Regional and Social Divisions in Margaret Drabble's The Radiant Way and David Caute's Veronica, or, The Two Nations

Abstract

Although many social scientists have long questioned its validity as an analytical tool, the nineteenth-century concept of the two nations continues to be a popular politico-historical and literary model of describing socioeconomic, political, and cultural divisions within British society. The author examines in detail the ways Margaret Drabble and David Caute treat this subject in The Radiant Way and Veronica, or, The Two Nations. Locating them in a wider historical context, he sets out to analyze their different aesthetic approaches, thematic emphases, and ideological orientations.