The Death of the Heart (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Elizabeth Bowen
- First Published: 1938
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Bildungsroman
- Time of Work: The 1930’s
- Setting: London and Seale-on-Sea, England
- Principal Characters: Portia Quayne, Anna Quayne, Thomas Quayne, St. Quentin Miller, Eddie, Major Eric Brutt, Matchett, Mrs. Heccomb, Daphne Heccomb, Dickie Heccomb
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, Class conflict, Adolescence, Teenagers, Love or romance, Middle classes, Betrayal, Alienation, Class consciousness, 1920’s, 1930’s, Emotions, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, England or English people, Idealism, Loneliness, Orphans or orphanages
- Locales: London, England, Seale, England
Form and Content
The Death of the Heart offers a penetrating view of English upper-class society between the two World Wars. Though she creates an entertaining comedy of manners, Irish-born Elizabeth Bowen issues a moral indictment of the class as a whole for its material values, exclusivity, and callous indifference to others. The Quaynes of 2 Windsor Terrace are affluent and emotionally repressed, contemptuous of anyone whom they deem vulgar. Their ward, the inexperienced Portia, arrives as a rootless transient who knows nothing of polite society. Thomas and Anna...
[The entire page is 2495 words long]
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