The Angel in the Garden : Recovering Elizabeth von Arnim's The Pastor's Wife

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Ashley Oles (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Advisor

Helena Feder

Abstract: This thesis aims to examine Elizabeth von Arnim's The Pastor's Wife for two major purposes: 1) to work toward recovering von Arnim's work which I believe to be important and worthy of critical attention and 2) to examine the ways in which von Arnim criticizes gender conventions in western culture. In order to do this my thesis is broken down into three chapters. Because this novel like most of her novels is heavily based on events in her life I spend the first chapter examining relevant events in her life and her first book Elizabeth and her German Garden . In the second I survey the critical work that has been done on von Arnim. In the final chapter I closely examine how von Arnim uses dualistic relationships between men and women and humans and nature and the structure of a modified Bildungsroman in order to create a story that is wholly critical of patriarchal culture.

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Date: 2012

Keywords

Literature, Environment, Feminism, feminist recovery, recovery, Pastor's Wife, The

Subjects

Von Arnim, Elizabeth, 1866-1941. Pastor's wife--Criticism and interpretation

Sexism in literature

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