Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton
-
Standard Name: Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton,,, first Baron
Birth Name: Edward George Earle Bulwer
Self-constructed Name: Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton
Titled: Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton
, who began his prolific career as Edward Bulwer, wrote many kinds of novels—from the silver-fork genre (whose name derived from a derisive reference to Bulwer himself as a silver fork polisher
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press.
103
in Fraser's Magazine ) and domestic fiction to crime or Newgate
novels (the forerunner of sensation fiction), science fiction, and occult stories. He also wrote three plays, several books of poetry, and an Arthurian epic, as well as editing The New Monthly Magazine from 1831 to 1833.
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press.
The Bulwers visited Naples together; that was one of the places where Edward
accused Rosina
of encouraging other men.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Family and Intimate relationships
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Rosina Bulwer (later Baroness Lytton
) separated from her husband, Edward Bulwer
.
Ellis, Stewart Marsh, and Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton. “Introduction and Notes”. Unpublished Letters of Lady Bulwer Lytton to A.E. Chalon, R.A., Nash, pp. 9 - 26; various pages.
22
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, p. vi - xxxvi.
xvii
Violence
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Rosina Bulwer Lytton (later Baroness Lytton
) was committed to a lunatic asylum by her estranged husband, Edward Bulwer Lytton
, after she made a public speech in Hertford against his candidacy for parliament as...
Textual Production
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Rosina Bulwer (later Baroness Lytton)
published her second satirical novel, The Budget of the Bubble Family (which is based on that of her husband
, the Bulwers).
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, p. vi - xxxvi.
xxxv
Athenæum. J. Lection.
675 (1840): 766
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Textual Production
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Rosina Bulwer Lytton
's autobiography was published: A Blighted Life described her confinement by her husband
to a lunatic asylum in 1858 after she spoke out about his political career.
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, p. vi - xxxvi.
xxvii, xxxvi
Textual Production
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Two years after the death of Rosina Bulwer Lytton
, her literary executrix, Louisa Devey
, published Letters of the Late Edward Bulwer Lytton, Lord Lytton
, to His Wife.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Friends, Associates
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Their mother was living in Paris at this time, and Rosina lived in London with her uncle Sir John Doyle
(latterly without her sister, who joined their mother in Paris). She reputedly had an unusual...
Violence
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
The Bulwers' marriage was tempestuous, abusive, and scandal-ridden. Edward
was not only unfaithful but also abusive. On one occasion he bit a chunk out of Rosina's cheek during a fight; another time, she burnt her...
Wealth and Poverty
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
As result of her separation from Edward
and her reduced income (of four hundred pounds a year), Rosina Bulwer was forced to live either abroad or in the social back-waters
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, p. vi - xxxvi.
xix
of Britain.
Textual Production
James Malcolm Rymer
The 1852 edtion claimed to be by the author of Paul Clifford, which, published in 1830, was the earliest popular highwayman novel, and was in fact by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Family and Intimate relationships
Harriet Smythies
After she began her career as a novelist, HS
moved in literary circles, allegedly repelling the advances of William Harrison Ainsworth
and entering into a close friendship with Lord Lytton
. Literary historian Montague Summers...
Intertextuality and Influence
Harriet Smythies
In a critical preface HS
reveals her gender though not her name. She opens by invoking the author of Rienzi (either, Mary Russell Mitford
or Edward Bulwer Lytton
). The two groups of lovers and...
Textual Features
Harriet Smythies
The Feminist Companion, which names Edward Bulwer Lytton
among her contemporary admirers, calls her work sometimes sensational, and always better on motives and manners than plots.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography find her...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Harriet Smythies
The notes provide all kinds of contextual material, from official despatches and casualty lists to private letters. HS
celebrates Edward Bulwer Lytton
(who had two nephews at the war) both as a Tory and as...
Textual Features
Harriet Smythies
Critic Montague Summers
suggests that HS
's close relationship with Edward Bulwer Lytton
extended into her writing, saying that he helped her very generously in her novels, as must be obvious to any reader of...
