The Space Between: Literature and Culture 1914-1945

Volume 18/From the Editor/Acknowledgements

Well, it’s really 2023, isn’t it?  I am so excited to bring this special issue out, and to have had the opportunity to work with Victoria and Jilly, special guest editors for this volume. They bring experience and acuity to the volume’s theme, and they have assembled a brilliant set of manuscripts.  Luscious images and scintillating readings await readers in this issue—those who are searching for the "Modern Girl” can certainly find her here, in many guises and attitudes. The essays collected here exceed the promise seen in the proposal by the board of the Space Between Society and our former editor, Janine Utell, who commissioned it.

We also have two general features, by Sarah Cornish and Ruchi Mundeja. Sarah’s contribution brings new, more granular, attention to the famous London Letters by Mollie Panter-Downes, showing us intricate patterns of resistance woven into reporting from the home front. Ruchi’s consideration of a late Jean Rhys story—“The Day They Burned the Books”—reflects on the methods and ideologies that underlie the new interdisciplinary and transnational foci of modernist studies. 

We have our usual stellar cache of reviews—which gives me the opportunity to thank, one last time, our former Book Review Editor Liz Evans for her scrupulous and thoughtful curation of this section. I also want to thank  Amanda Golden, our inaugural Dispatches editor, for her work developing a new section of the journal. We are still considering applicants for this position, and I am happy to discuss the possibilities with interested candidates.

Let me also—again—welcome our new book review editorial team, Sarah Gleeson-Smith and Jess Masters, both of the University of Sydney.  They are developing new facets for the book review section: look for some new formats and opportunities in these pages in volume 19 (2023).
I’d also like to welcome two new members of the Advisory Committee: Laura Hartmann-Villalta and Josh Lam. They bring expertise on visual culture and history to our committee and I look forward to working with them as we move forward. Debra Rae Cohen has agreed to shift to the Editorial Board from the Advisory Committee, bringing her considerable experience with scholarly editing to that already illustrious group.

I’d like to thank all contributors for their commitment to collaborating with the editorial team so that we produce a high-quality volume. The special issue editors have also been gracious partners in producing this volume. Although this volume is technically post-COVID, it was developed in the guts of the pandemic, a situation that required stamina, kindness, and courage from everyone.

To close, sincere thanks to our reviewers, who toil in anonymity to ensure that each manuscript gets careful feedback. There are also two volunteer proofreaders to thank: Megan Heithaus and Ted Nesbitt, both recent graduates from English programs. Their extra sets of eyes have been invaluable.

Be well, and always submit to the journal,
Jen
 

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