Elizabeth and Her German Garden

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This edition did have a few errors, especially in the rendering of the German words with which Von Arnim liberally sprinkles her prose. Readers who do not know German might want to look for a footnoted edition with translations, or have an electronic translator handy. Katie Roiphe, Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910–1939. New York: Dial Press, 2008 ISBN 9780385339377 a b Kiek, Miranda (8 November 2011) Elizabeth von Arnim: The forgotten feminist who’s flowering again in The Independent. Retrieved 19 July 2020 Derham, Ruth (2021). Bertrand's Brother: The Marriages, Morals and Misdemeanours of Frank, 2nd Earl Russell. Stroud: Amberley. pp.257–283. ISBN 9781398102835. There is one other I have yet to speak of—Elizabeth’s husband. He goes by the name of “The Man of Wrath”. What does that imply?

Amanda DeWees, "Elizabeth von Arnim". An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers, ed. Paul Schlueter and June Schlueter. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1998, pp.13 ff. I love gardens and I love flowers, but I do not enjoy gardening so I was not inspired by all her gardening. She is a lovely writer for sure. I loved her book The Enchanted April and I look forward to reading more of her books. This is classified as a piece of semi-autobiographical literature and a classic. It was published in 1898, when Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941) was still married to her first husband Henning August von Arnim-Schlagenthin, a Prussian aristocrat. Married in 1891 she became known as Elizabeth von Arnim, although she was born Mary Annette Beauchamp. This is a woman who came to be known under several names, but Elizabeth von Arnim became her most used pen name and by which she is known to family and friends. She was British, but born in Australia. Soon after marriage, she came to live at her husband’s family estate in Nass Haines, Sheila. ‘Angles had everywhere taken the place of curves’: Elizabeth von Arnim and the German Garden. In: Turn of the Century Women 2.2 (1985): 36-41. Since 1983, the British publisher Virago has been reprinting her work with new introductions by modern writers, some of which claim her as a feminist. [29] The Reader's Encyclopedia reports that many of her later novels are "tired exercises", but this opinion is not widely held. [30]For me, this is one of those books! I adore Elizabeth, both the author and the protagonist. However, I do get the sense that, being privileged, being sheltered, and being solitary, besides, she wasn't always aware of how she sounded. It's not me judging her, mind you. It's those awful people...that I made up. Pomerania is an area in the northeast part of Germany and northwest part of Poland, on the south shores of the Baltic Sea. Random interesting trivia: it's also the home of Malbork Castle, the largest castle in the world: The dullest book takes on a certain saving grace if read out of doors, just as bread and butter, devoid of charm in the drawing room, is ambrosia eaten under a tree." This book is written in a loose diary format over the course of a year as Elizabeth plans her garden. Being a part of the aristocracy, she cannot do any of the physical work. For this, she has gardeners, who don’t seem to last long under her employ.

Isobel Maddison, ‘Elizabeth and Katherine’ in The Bloomsbury Handbook to Katherine Mansfield, ex Todd Martin, London: Bloomsbury, 2020 Elizabeth's husband pops into the story from time to time. Occasionally he goes off into pompous lectures about the frailties and shortcomings of women. He seems to be doing it with tongue in cheek, just to tease his wife or bait the women listening to him, but I did find myself wondering just how much he really meant it, and these parts were irritating to read. So minus a star for those sections and for the parts when the gardening trivialities and minutiae made my eyes glaze over. But overall this is an enjoyable short novel about an unusual, intelligent, literate woman and her dislikes and passions, and a charming glimpse into a time long ago and far away. "I don't love things that will only bear the garden for three or four months in the year and require coaxing and petting for the rest of it. Give me a garden full of strong, healthy creatures, able to stand roughness and cold without dismally giving in and dying. I never could see that delicacy of constitution is pretty, either in plants or women." This 1898 novelized memoir of a year in the life of a rather remarkable woman is a delight, a tonic for miserable days and bad moods. The book recounts the joy Elizabeth found in her country estate, her efforts to develop a garden on the neglected grounds, and time spent with her family and visiting friends. Arnim's 1921 novel Vera, a dark tragi-comedy drawing on her disastrous marriage to Earl Russell, was her most critically acclaimed work, described by John Middleton Murry as " Wuthering Heights by Jane Austen". [27]

Con ironia descrive le giornate accanto alle tre figlie (la bambina di aprile, la bambina di maggio e la bambina di giugno: più insistenti delle zanzare, che imperversano scatenate intorno a me") ed il marito (L’Uomo della Collera), presenze che spesso intralciano: I do sincerely trust that the benediction that is always awaiting me in my garden may by degrees be more deserved, and that I may grow in grace, and patience, and cheerfulness, just like the happy flowers I so much love." Maddison, Isobel (2013). "Worms of the same family: Elizabeth von Arnim and Katherine Mansfield". Elizabeth von Arnim: Beyond the German Garden. Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9781409411673. In 1898 she started her literary career by publishing Elizabeth and Her German Garden, a semi-autobiographical novel about a rural idyll published anonymously and, as it turned out to be highly successful, reprinted 21 times within the first year. Von Arnim wrote another 20 books, which were all published "By the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden".

There was a lot of satire here which made it an interesting read. The satire was directed at all quarters - her own self, her husband, her friends, relations, acquaintances and her household. I found it quite amusing that she should refer to her husband as "the man of wrath" and her babies as "April baby", " May baby" and "June baby". These interesting expressions gave a novelty to her writing. That perhaps is the cause of the effect of restfulness. No one imposes on anyone, least of all, upon the heroine of this book. Her right to a separate existence she does not claim, but she takes it. I wish every woman who is thwarted, or who worries about the nonessentials of life would read this book, and let it influence her to give herself more elbow room. Conclusion: it's not a relaxing tale about gardening at all. However, I did find it interesting as a historical document. I did like the (sometimes very catty) wit and the prose is quite good. So I don't rate it very low. But be aware that if you are looking for a lovely tale about gardens this might not be it. Lisa Bekaert, An Analysis of Elizabeth von Arnim's The Benefactress and Charlotte P. Gilman's Herland as New Woman writings & Henry R. Haggard's She and Ayesha as a masculine retort. Master's thesis, Ghent University, 2009 ( [1] PDF; 378 KB) This took me a long time to finish, because a lot of it consists of lists of flowers, in long, run on sentences, and because much of it is atrocious socially. Elizabeth von Arnim wrote this in 1898 and so you may say, well, it's of its time. I beg to differ.

a b R. Sully (2012) British Images of Germany: Admiration, Antagonism & Ambivalence, 1860–1914, p. 120, New York: Springer. Retrieved 20 July 2020 (Google Books).

Unique Elements Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Australian author Elizabeth von Armin is a humorous semi-autobiographical fiction first published in 1898 in the United Kingdom. Sully, R. (2012) British Images of Germany: Admiration, Antagonism & Ambivalence, 1860-1914, p. 120. New York: Springer. Retrieved 20 July 2020 (Google Books)

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Talia Schaffer, "Von Arnim [née Beauchamp], Elizabeth [Mary Annette, Countess Russell]". The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English, ed. Lorna Sage, advis. eds. Germaine Greer et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, p.646