SPENS, Janet.

£575 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Two Periods of Disillusion. First edition, a presentation copy inscribed by the author to a key Austen scholar on the front free endpaper: "Katherine Metcalfe, from J. Spens, April 1912". At the time, both women were employed as academic tutors in English literature at the University of Oxford. Later in 1912, Metcalfe published her landmark scholarly edition of Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Janet Spens (1876-1963) was a Scottish literary critic and, in 1910, became the first woman to be awarded a DLitt by the University of Glasgow. When she published Two Periods of Disillusion, she was an assistant lecturer in English at her alma mater. By the year of inscription, she was working as a tutor Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, where she remained until 1936, eventually becoming a fellow. She probably met Metcalfe, who briefly worked as a tutor in English at Somerville College, through their joint workplace. Metcalfe married R. W. Chapman in 1913 and left her job, although she collaborated with her husband on his scholarly editions of Austen's complete works. In Two Periods of Disillusion, Spens argues that the late 19th century and the early 17th century were both periods "when science making great strides had gripped men's imaginations" (p. 23). She links the literature of the two eras, comparing poets such as Donne and Swinburne, with a particular focus on Shakespearean drama.

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