The Anxiety over Transition:The Death of the Heartmidst Changes in the Idea of Culture

Elizabeth Bowen is an important figure in the history of interaction between English literature and the idea of culture.By writing novels she contributes to the enrichment of the notion of culture, to which the academic world has failed to pay adequate attention.Take The Death of the Heart, her masterpiece, for instance.Scholars concerned over the past decade have by and large approached the novel from the psychological perspective in order to pinpoint the factors underlying "the death of the heart" that Portia, the heroin, experiences.The present paper seeks to prove that the character of Portia and her story are not only of psychological significance, but also of great cultural significance.We are more likely to get a grip on the root-causes of the death of Portia's heart if we look upon The Death of the Heartas an interaction between literature and the idea of culture in its evolution and then proceed to make inquiries into Bowen's cultural thoughts.