Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Jane Austen
-
Standard Name: Austen, Jane
Birth Name: Jane Austen
Pseudonym: A Lady
Styled: Mrs Ashton Dennis
JA
's unequalled reputation has led academic canon-makers to set her on a pedestal and scholars of early women's writing to use her as an epoch. For generations she was the first—or the only—woman to be adjudged major. Recent attention has shifted: her balance, good sense, and humour are more taken for granted, and critics have been scanning her six mature novels for traces of the boldness and irreverence which mark her juvenilia. Her two unfinished novels, her letters (which some consider an important literary text in themselves), and her poems and prayers have also received some attention.
This was a new influence added to those of the Victorian novelists (especially the women), Shakespeare
, and Jane Austen
, whom she admired extravagantly (Even her dull scraps are music to me)...
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press.
2: 449
) had suggested as title Isadora; or, The Force of First Love.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press.
2: 449
This novel too was attributed to Mrs Ross, perhaps because of...
Intertextuality and Influence
Beatrix Potter
BP
was not content with her success as a children's writer, but hankered to establish herself as an author for adults. Her references in her private writings to Burney
(a propos of her first appearance...
Intertextuality and Influence
Molly Keane
This, like Good Behaviour, is a black comedy set in a crumbling Anglo-Irishbig house, Durraghglass. Unlike Good Behaviour it sets its protagonist family (of the same generation as Aroon St Charles) in...
Intertextuality and Influence
Mary Louisa Molesworth
In each of these stories a male character knows an attractive woman only by a single feature of her appearance. In Bronzie a schoolboy becomes obsessed with a young woman he observes from behind in...
Intertextuality and Influence
Sarah Harriet Burney
Lorna J. Clark, editor of SHB
's letters, notes the abundant portrayal in her novels of dysfunctional families.
Burney, Sarah Harriet. “Editor’s Introduction”. The Letters of Sarah Harriet Burney, edited by Lorna J. Clark, Georgia University Press.
The title-page quotes from Shakespeare
(What's past is Prologue) and Cicero
(That cannot be said too often which is not yet understood).
Moore, Edith Mary. The Defeat of Woman. C.W. Daniel Co.
prelims
The chapters run from Women and the Struggle...
Health
Dora Carrington
Carrington attempted to give herself a miscarriage by riding a horse violently, and when this did not work she became depressed to a nearly suicidal degree.
Gerzina, Gretchen. Carrington: A Life of Dora Carrington, 1893-1932. John Murray.
CC
met Warren Hastings
and his wife Marian
at Adlestrop in January 1791, and remained on friendly terms: she sent a message congratulating him at the end of his marathon trial.
Le Faye, Deirdre. A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family. Cambridge University Press.
132, 175
She and...
Friends, Associates
Germaine de Staël
In Regency England GS
met Coleridge
, Southey
, and Byron
. Jane Austen
, however, made a point of avoiding her.
Winegarten, Renee. Mme de Staël. Berg.
74, 76
Friends, Associates
Harriett Mozley
HM
enjoyed a visit in November 1838 to Fulwar William Fowle
, rector of Allington in Wiltshire, whose family was closely connected with Jane Austen
. Fowle was quite surprised and pleased
Mozley, Dorothea, editor. Newman Family Letters. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
78
at the...
Friends, Associates
G. B. Stern
One of GBS
's close friends was Sheila Kaye-Smith
, with whom she collaborated in works about Jane Austen
. Another was Noël Coward
, who met her after sending her a fan letter, introduced...
Friends, Associates
Elizabeth Rigby
In 1849, ER
's friend Sara Coleridge
called her the most brilliant woman of the day . . . . She is thoroughly feminine, like that princess of novelists, Jane Austen
.
Coleridge, Sara. Memoir and Letters of Sara Coleridge. Editor Coleridge, Edith, Henry S. King.
301-2
Friends, Associates
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Liddell was to remain one of ICB
's close friends. She maintained a benevolent, almost aunt-like relationship with him, and although resident abroad he was an important source of support after Jourdain's death. He later...
Family and Intimate relationships
Elizabeth Jane Howard
They had been living together for more than a year, and EJH
had already embarked on the difficult stepmother relationship with the three Amis children—especially the two boys, who were living with them, and were...
