Abstract
In To the North (1932) Elizabeth Bowen plays on Modernist notions of speed, of restlessness, and the inherent dangers of travel for her young protagonist, Emmeline Summers, a partner in a newly established travel agency. This chapter draws on historical records of air travel in the 1930s, the idea of ‘airmindedness’ spearheaded by Sir Alan Cobham as he travelled around the country promoting flying, the burgeoning travel industry, and the growing fascination with travel literature. It charts the journeys and mobilities taken by Emmeline as Bowen uses speed, travel, perceptions of change and destruction as metaphors both for the escape from the mundane and for the loss of innocence in an increasingly corrupt and disconnected society.
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Darwood, N. (2020). Flying Dangerously: Elizabeth Bowen’s To the North. In: McCluskey, M., Seaber, L. (eds) Aviation in the Literature and Culture of Interwar Britain. Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60555-1_7
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