Elizabeth Bowen Research Paper

Elizabeth Bowen lived in Ireland in the beginning of her life and she stayed at her family house during the summer months. Her time in Ireland during the development of the national independence movement helped to inspire her writing. Bowen writes about how the domestic life in Ireland and England is shattered by war and by the breakup of the British empire. In her early stories, the experiences of her father’s downfall and the loss within her family were used by Bowen in her writing. In The Last of September she writes about loss in a great Irish house rich in tradition, which is much like her family house, and the chaos she endured early in her life. These chaotic filled compositions reflect other twentieth-century works. Bowen is not unique in some of her stories because there was loss throughout many works due to the wars occurring during the century. Much like Virginia Woolf, Bowen creates works that are aware of the social scene and social responsibility, which shows her social consciousness (Church 17). During her life time, Bowen had many affairs, which influenced her writings. “In her fiction, Bowen repeatedly returns to the circulation of desire, hostility, and guilt among trios” (Stade 79). These emotions were acquired through the action of cheating on her spouse with three known men, including Goronwy Ree. Ree's personality was used in one of Bowen’s character’s in The Death
During World War II, Elizabeth Bowen worked as a ARP warden in London and experienced the Blitz. “The Demon Lover” is about a woman returning to her London home, which she has fled due to the bombings the city endured. In her home, she finds a letter from a past love, telling her to meet him that night. At the end of the short story, she enters a taxi cab and realizes her driver is her ex-lover. This past love can be linked to Bowen’s first engagement, which was ended after visiting