This article introduces a rediscovered 1938 serial by Elizabeth Bowen ‘specially written’ for Home and Country, the monthly organ of the National Federation of Women's Institutes. It situates ‘Mystery at the Lilacs’ within the periodical culture of ‘Home and Country’, paying particular attention to Bowen's engagement with the social and cultural debates that played out across its pages, and considers how Bowen's serial compares with her other contemporary literary projects. Far from being an aberration or curiosity, this serial overlaps thematically with Bowen's other interwar short stories. Self-reflexively concerned with the status of the writer in the community and preoccupied with the relationship between ‘high’ and popular culture, ‘Mystery at the Lilacs’ has much to tell us about Bowen's thinking about politics and culture in the interwar period.

中文翻译：

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“紫丁香之谜”（1938 年）：伊丽莎白·鲍文（Elizabeth Bowen）的家庭和乡村惊悚连续剧

本文介绍了伊丽莎白·鲍恩 (Elizabeth Bowen) 重新发现的 1938 年连载系列，该系列专为全国妇女协会联合会的月刊《家庭与国家》(Home and Country) 撰写。它将“丁香之谜”置于“家与国家”的期刊文化中，特别关注鲍文参与其各页上发生的社会和文化辩论，并考虑了鲍文的连续剧与她的其他当代文学项目的比较. 这部连续剧绝非失常或好奇，而是与鲍文的其他两次世界大战之间的短篇小说在主题上重叠。自我反思地关注作家在社区中的地位，并专注于“高级”与流行文化之间的关系，“丁香之谜”对鲍文有很多要告诉我们的信息