Furies of Marjorie Bowen

This first book-length critical examination of the life and work of Marjorie Bowen (1885–1952) reveals a major English writer whose prodigious output included stories of history, romance, and the supernatural. As Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Michael Dirda writes in his Foreword, Bowen may be "the finest British woman writer of the uncanny of the last century," a view that echoes the high regard of cultural historian Edward Wagenknecht, who called her "a literary phenomenon," one whose best work places her alongside such contemporaries as Edith Wharton and Daphne du Maurier. Publicly acclaimed—known only by a series of pseudonyms (including "Marjorie Bowen")—but privately inscrutable, she was and is a mysterious and complex character.Drawing for the first time upon archival resources and the cooperation of the Bowen Estate, this book reveals a woman who saw herself as a rationalist and serious historian, but also as a mystic and "dark enchantress of dread." Above all, through a lifetime of domestic storms and creative ecstasy, Bowen worked tirelessly as both a professional writer and a consummate artist, always seeking, as she once confessed, "to find beauty in dark places.

Elevating her from obscurity, Tibbetts' comprehensive study of Marjorie Bowen's life and novels results in a definitive guide for any reader with an interest in understanding Bowen and her place amongst contemporary 20th century Gothic horror and weird fiction writers."—Michele Brittany, author of Horror in Space: Critical Essays on a Film Subgenre

John C. Tibbetts is professor emeritus of the University of Kansas. His many books on the arts include film, music and literature. He has been twice a finalist for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award.