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Mosley, Jeff

doi:10.2111/rangelands-d-12-00067.1

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“…The unwavering belief that extremists had in their politics went against Mitford's philosophy that "nothing in life should be taken too seriously." 47 This kind of suspicion about political ideology-of any kind, not just fascism-is a common feature in intermodern women's writing of the 1930s and 40s. 48 Through the depiction of Eugenia, Wigs on the Green critiques overzealous commitments to politics, as Mitford denies the reader any chance of sympathizing with Eugenia's views by turning her into a comic figure.…”

Section: This May Explain Why Mitford Frequently Conflates British Fascism and German Nazism Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fascism, comedy, and weak commitments in Nancy Mitford’sWigs on the Green

Murphy

2020

Feminist Modernist Studies

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Occupying an ambiguous position in relation to the literary movements of the twentieth century, British writer Nancy Mitford (1904Mitford ( -1973 is most well-known for her postwar novels, The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949). However, her interwar novels published in the early years of her writing career offer the potential for fruitful readings. This article takes as its focus Mitford's 1935 novel Wigs on the Green, a romantic comedy revolving around a fascist pageant play. Through comedy, the novel critiques the aristocracy's engagement with radical politics, which it interprets as an effort to restore traditional ideals of Englishness. Wigs on the Green, like many of Mitford's novels, is characterized in its form and content by weak commitments which serve to generate the novel's laughter and critique: from the characters' naïve acceptance of fascism to the novel's subversion of the conventions of the romantic comedy. Wigs on the Green's preoccupation with weak commitments is best revealed through a reading that positions Mitford as an "intermodern" writer, a framework I argue is attuned to weakness. Mitford's novel thus reveals the usefulness of intermodernism for reading and recovering women's comedy writing of the interwar years.

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Section: This May Explain Why Mitford Frequently Conflates British Fascism and German Nazism Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fascism, comedy, and weak commitments in Nancy Mitford’sWigs on the Green

Murphy

2020

Feminist Modernist Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Browsing the Literature

Cited by 1 publication

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Fascism, comedy, and weak commitments in Nancy Mitford’sWigs on the Green

Fascism, comedy, and weak commitments in Nancy Mitford’sWigs on the Green

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