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The Demon Lover Essay

2318 Words10 Pages

Describe New Historicism and its application to Literature. How, for instance, might one apply New Historicism to Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover”? New Historicism marks a critical moment in literary and cultural theory. The New Historicist discourse of literary investigation has broken down the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable in literary analysis; its essential premise focuses on how a literary text reveals the dominant ideologies of a society from a specific era in history. This essay will describe New Historicism and apply it to the short story, “The Demon Lover”, by Elizabeth Bowen. It will begin by exploring the different facets of New Historicism. Then, it will examine an issue that may arise in the New Historicist approach …show more content…

In “The Demon Lover”, Mrs Dover has returned to her house in London following the blitz. There is a sense of apprehension that permeates throughout the entire story. After Mrs Dover reads an anonymous letter, she moves around the house in dreaded anticipation, as she believes, “it was possible that she was not alone now. She might be being waited for downstairs. Waited — until when? Until ‘the hour arranged’. At least that was not six o’clock: six has struck. She rose from the chair and went over and locked the door. The thing was, to get out. To fly? No, not that: she had to catch a train” (97). Bowen depicts the mental collapse of Mrs Dover, as fear and uncertainty override and her sanity. It is difficult for the reader to discern whether Mrs Dover has completely lost her mind or not. Arguably, Bowen is also depicting the socio-political unrest and insecurity in London society. In London Was Ours Diaries and Memoirs of the London Blitz, Amy Helen Bell incorporates diary exerts from people living in London during the blitz. Nigel Farson records the London landscape from 1941, he

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