Table Of ContentPhilanthropy and Early
Twentieth-Century British
Literature
Philanthropy and Early Twentieth-Century Literature explores the
relationship between British literature and philanthropy at the end of
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, examining the works of
E.M. Forster, Rebecca West, W.B. Yeats, Roger Fry, Wyndham Lewis,
Virginia Woolf, and Vita Sackville-West. This book considers how writ-
ers in the modernist period drew on the liberal welfare reforms, the
adoption of scientific methods in charity, the Cambridge tradition of
public service, the Irish nationalist movement, and the influence of the
Victorian woman philanthropist to advocate for an individualist art;
revolutionize their aesthetics; redefine ideals of hospitality and benef-
icence; and affirm the national, social, and economic liberation of the
modern subject.
Contrary to popular interpretations presenting modernism as a break
with Victorian values, Dr. Radeva-Costello argues that philanthropic
engagements are at the heart of early twentieth-century literature. The
writers discussed in this book had a sophisticated knowledge of the
philanthropy debates and of their power to transform twentieth-century
notions about how to govern; how to conceive of national, class, and
gender boundaries; and how to market the work of the professional art-
ist in the real world. In keeping with the strong archival and historicizing
approach of the “New Modernist Studies” of recent years, this book
also analyzes the rich contextual detail of early modernist magazines,
contemporary and archival periodicals, and government publications.
Milena Radeva-Costello earned her advanced degree in English from
Sofia University in Bulgaria and her MA and PhD in English from the
Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests center on the theme
of philanthropy in British and American Modernism, and she has pub-
lished articles on philanthropy in the works of Virginia Woolf and Edith
Wharton. She currently teaches at Providence College.
Among the Victorians and Modernists
Edited by Dennis Denisoff
This series publishes monographs and essay collections on literature, art,
and culture in the context of the diverse aesthetic, political, social, tech-
nological, and scientific innovations that arose among the Victorians and
Modernists. Viable topics include, but are not limited to, artistic and cul-
tural debates and movements; influential figures and communities; and
agitations and developments regarding subjects such as animals, com-
modification, decadence, degeneracy, democracy, desire, ecology, gender,
nationalism, the paranormal, performance, public art, sex, socialism,
spiritualities, transnationalism, and the urban. Studies that address
continuities between the Victorians and Modernists are welcome. Work
on recent responses to the periods such as Neo-Victorian novels, graphic
novels, and film will also be considered.
9 Testing New Opinions and Courting New Impressions
New Perspectives on Walter Pater
Edited by Anne-Florence Gillard-Estrada, Martine
Lambert-Charbonnier and Charlotte Riberyro
10 Edwardian Culture
Beyond the Garden Party
Samuel Shaw, Sarah Shaw and Naomi Carle
11 The Female Fantastic
Gendering the Supernatural in the 1890s and 1920s
Edited by Elizabeth McCormick, Jennifer Mitchell, and
Rebecca Soares
12 Art, Race, and Fantastic Color Change in the Victorian Novel
Jessica Durgan
13 Philanthropy and Early Twentieth-Century British Literature
Milena Radeva-Costello
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Among-the-Victorians-and-Modernists/book-series/ASHSER4035
Philanthropy and Early
Twentieth-Century British
Literature
Milena Radeva-Costello
First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Milena Radeva-Costello to be identified as author
of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-06649-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-15913-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
To my mother Luba and to the memory of my father Todor
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Empire and Welfare in Britain 22
2 Yeats, Charity, and the Irish Question 59
3 Bloomsbury, the Spirit of Cambridge, and the
Patronage of the Arts 92
4 Wyndham Lewis, Violence, and the Individual in the
Welfare State 123
5 Women Writers, Altruism, and Philanthropy in
Early Twentieth-Century Britain 153
Conclusion 187
Index 193
Acknowledgments
Several scholars and institutions have inspired me and helped launch
this project. First of all, I would like to thank Mark Morrisson, with-
out whose guidance, insight, careful reading through multiple drafts of
chapters, and unflagging support through the years this project would
not have been possible. Additionally, I am grateful to Janet Lyon, R obert
Caserio, and Vincent Lankewish for their critical commentaries and sug-
gestions in the early stages of this project and to Joan Landes for gener-
ously sharing with me her time and her knowledge of women’s history
and of feminist theory. I am immensely indebted to the English depart-
ment at Penn State University for their long-term generous support.
I am grateful to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library for
the use of Rebecca West’s manuscripts and to the New York Public Li-
brary for allowing me access to the papers of the Charity Organization
Society. I also wish to thank Eleanor McNees and Sara Veglahn for their
comments on my conference paper on Virginia Woolf and the anony-
mous second reviewer of the manuscript for several revision ideas that
enriched the final version of my book.
This book would not exist without the support of the English Depart-
ment at Providence College. I wish to thank Bruce Graver, Chair of the
English Department, Hugh Lena, Provost, and Sheila Adamus Liotta,
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, for their support. Their will-
ingness to work with me on the time constraints of this project has been
instrumental in completing this study.
I am thankful to Heidi Lee and Roumiana Velikova, for their friend-
ship, willingness to listen, advice, and enthusiasm about this project.
Last but not least, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my husband
Peter, who has forbearingly listened to me discuss this project for many
years, read numerous manuscript pages, offered valuable advice, and
provided emotional support throughout the writing and revising stages
of this manuscript.
