Mary Elizabeth Braddon

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Standard Name: Braddon, Mary Elizabeth
Birth Name: Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Pseudonym: Mary Seyton
Pseudonym: Babington White
Pseudonym: Lady Caroline Lascelles
Pseudonym: Aunt Belinda
Pseudonym: The author of Lady Audley's Secret
Self-constructed Name: M. E. Braddon
Married Name: Mary Elizabeth Maxwell
Used Form: Miss M. E. Braddon
MEB made her name, scandalously, in the early 1860s as a founder of the intricately plotted sensation novel, and was particularly known for her transgressive heroines. Although still most strongly associated with this and the related genres of gothic, mystery and detective stories, she also contributed significantly during her 56-year career to the psychological and realist novels, in addition to writing several dramas (some of them produced) and publishing in her youth one long poem in a collection with shorter ones. Dedicated to writing for the new and expanding mass reading public (including fiction for the penny press), and associated from the outset with novel advertising and publishing practices, she issued her work serially, edited Belgravia magazine from 1866 to 1876 (as well as a Christmas annual), and survived the demise of the triple-decker novel.
Painting of Mary Elizabeth Braddon by William Powell Frith, exhibited 1865. She stands beside a desk with writing materials and stacks of books, looking at the viewer, in a long dark dress. The wall behind her and the desk chair are red. Her red-brown hair is coiled over her ears, and her clasped hands hold a handkerchief. National Portrait Gallery.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Intertextuality and Influence Kate O'Brien
Deirdre Madden , in her afterword to the Virago edition, seems to regret that O'Brien so powerfully depicted Agnes's religious life, and to regard romantic love as a casualty of the plot. The novel, however...
Intertextuality and Influence Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton
This was among his most controversial novels; W. Fraser Rae later praised it in his attack on Mary Elizabeth Braddon 's sensation fiction, and George Sala cited it as a laudable antecedent in her defence.
Rae, W. Fraser. “Sensation Novelists: Miss Braddon”. North British Review, Vol.
43
, pp. 180-04.
202
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Wolff, Robert Lee. Sensational Victorian. Garland.
206
Intertextuality and Influence Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton
Bulwer-Lytton in his later years mentored the young Mary Elizabeth Braddon , offering her advice on her writings, often with reference to his own. Their literary friendship lasted until his death. Charles Reade was also...
Leisure and Society Queen Victoria
Among her favourite writers were Alfred Tennyson , Sir Walter Scott , George Eliot (whose The Mill on the Floss made a deep impression
Victoria, Queen. Queen Victoria in Her Letters and Journals. Editor Hibbert, Christopher, Penguin.
116
on her), and Charles Kingsley , whose Two Years Ago...
Leisure and Society Emmuska, Baroness Orczy
Music was very important to EBO (though she says she had inexplicably little talent), and she gives one of the five books of her memoirs to her musical life. She heard Edvard Grieg conducting his...
Literary responses Jean Ingelow
The Athenæum remarked that in spite of many faults in construction, we had seldom read a more charming novel of the domestic kind.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
2355 (1872): 765
The review mentioned that JI seemed to live in...
Literary responses Mrs Alexander
Early critic Helen Black found Her Dearest Foe to be quite absorbing.
Black, Helen C. Notable Women Authors of the Day. D. Bryce.
64
Later critic Muriel Smith argues that its claims rest on its significant contribution to the development of detective fiction, rather than...
Literary responses Georgiana Chatterton
Henry Fothergill Chorley in the Athenæum wrote that this work had come from the pen of an amiable and accomplished lady and that it could only be described as an amazing production.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1879 (1863): 566
Literary responses Henrietta Camilla Jenkin
The Saturday Review called Once and Again a great advance upon any previous effort of the writer's.
Kirk, John Foster, and S. Austin Allibone, editors. A Supplement to Allibone’s Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. J. B. Lippincott.
The young Vernon Lee praised this novel enthusiastically in an Italian article published in La Rivista in October...
Literary responses Ellen Wood
Early discussions of EW as a sensation writer often linked her writing to that of Mary Elizabeth Braddon , despite the two authors' vastly different styles and perspectives. In 1863 a review of Our Female...
Literary responses Adelaide Kemble
The novel was extremely well received. The Athenæum reviewer had never encountered so racy and original a move sideways into writing, and sought to establish AK 's worth by contrasting her with a woman writer...
Literary responses Ethel M. Dell
In response to a compliment on her writing EMD replied, they are not well written and will never be called classics.
Dell, Penelope. Nettie and Sissie. Hamish Hamilton.
129
Highbrow journals at her death were careful not to praise. The Times Literary...
Literary responses Ellen Wood
Discussing the presentation of madness in The Woman in White, Lady Audley's Secret and this novel, Rebecca Stern suggests that St. Martin's Eve, unlike the earlier works, leaves no space for a subversive...
Literary responses Anna Steele
AS has been largely ignored by readers and critics since her death, and her works remain out of print. Her name occurs in biographies of her more famous relatives, and in 1929 her niece Minna Evangeline Bradhurst
Literary responses George Eliot
Lewes , who wrote that if the book was not a hit I will never more trust my judgement in such matters,
Eliot, George. The George Eliot Letters. Editor Haight, Gordon S., Yale University Press.
3: 10
was vindicated when printing after printing was called for (15,000 copies...

Timeline

June 1899: Belgravia: A London Magazine (formerly edited...

Writing climate item

June 1899

Belgravia: A London Magazine (formerly edited by Mary Elizabeth Braddon ) ceased publication.

Texts

Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. John Marchmont’s Legacy. Tinsley Brothers, 1863.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. John Marchmont’s Legacy. Editors Sasaki, Toru and Norman Page, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Joshua Haggard’s Daughter. J. Maxwell, 1876.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Joshua Haggard’s Daughter. Harper and Brothers, 1877.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Lady Audley’s Secret. Tinsley Brothers, 1862.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Like and Unlike. Spencer Blackett, 1887.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Mary. Hutchinson, 1916.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. “Mary Elizabeth Braddon: A Brief Chronology”. Aurora Floyd, edited by Richard Nemesvari and Lisa Surridge, Broadview, 1998.
Hatton, Joseph, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. “Miss Braddon at Home: A Sketch and an Interview”. The Fatal Marriage and Other Stories, edited by Chris Willis and Chris Willis, Sensation Press, 2000, pp. 239-47.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Mohawks. J. and R. Maxwell, 1886.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth et al. “My First Novel”. The Trail of the Serpent, edited by Chris Willis and Chris Willis, Modern Library, 2003, pp. 415-27.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. One Thing Needful. J. and R. Maxwell, 1886.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Robert Ainsleigh. J. Maxwell, 1872.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Rough Justice. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1898.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Rupert Godwin. Ward, Lock, and Tyler, 1867.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Sir Jasper’s Tenant. J. Maxwell, 1865.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. Sons of Fire. Simpkin, Marshall, 1895.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Christmas Hirelings. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1894.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Doctor’s Wife. J. Maxwell, 1864.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Doctor’s Wife. Editor Pykett, Lyn, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Fatal Marriage and Other Stories. Editor Willis, Chris, Sensation Press, 2000.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Fatal Three. Simpkin, Marshall, 1888.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Fatal Three. Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1891.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Lady Lisle. Ward and Lock, 1862.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. The Lady’s Mile. J. and R. Maxwell.