"Though her books have all but disappeared from commercial distribution and critical discourse, Ivy Compton-Burnett's prolific writing career garnered her a substantial readership during her lifetime, particularly during the Second World War. In the introduction to her 1984 biography entitled Ivy: The Life of I. Compton-Burnett, Hilary Spurling marvels that twentieth century readers attributed "the last word in modernity" to her novels. However, Compton-Burnett's works have remained largely neglected by criticism within the field of modernist studies. Through the examination of four novels: A House and its Head (1935); Elders and Betters (1944); Mother and Son (1955); and A God and His Gifts (1963), I will chart the way Compton-Burnett's treatment of incestuous relationships and employment of camp humor function as a revelatory queer and feminist critique of the patriarchal family. Her novels illustrate the strange ways individuals operate within the repressive confines of the family system, revealing the ultimate failure of heteronormative and traditional modes of structuring the family unit. Through my work on her novels I hope to elucidate how serious contemplation of forgotten queer and female writers in modernism helps us see alternative ways of resistance and political writing apart from the violent revolt from the past that high modernists propagate."--Page ii.
Read
