LLWRC 915 - Literary Classics: Sylvia Townsend Warner

While not as well-known as some of her contemporaries, Sylvia Townsend Warner is one of the great British writers of the 20th century. She has a devoted cult following (your instructor is one of them) and her works have recently been reprinted by both Penguin Modern Classics and New York Review of Books, allowing new audiences to get to know her. Each of her novels is distinct from the others, but all are fascinating - and sharply written - explorations of unexpected lives at the margins of history. In this class, we'll read three of her novels, Lolly Willowes (1926), a surprising and belated coming of age story of an unusual women; Summer Will Show (1936), a story of love and politics in 1848 revolutionary Europe; and The Corner That Held Them (1948), a story of a community of medieval nuns.