The Critical felt that IK
had disarmed reviewers by the humility of her preface.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
2d ser. 36 (1802): 117
Devendra P. Varma
, who wrote that this book was a thundering success in its day...
Publishing
Elizabeth Meeke
No original has been identified; scholar Carol Markham
assumes that the translation claim is itself fictitious. A facsimile appeared in a series from Arno Press
in 1977 with a forward by Devendra P. Varma
and...
Literary responses
Elizabeth Meeke
Devendra P. Varma
calls the style here pedestrian, but some scenes striking.
Varma, Devendra P., and Elizabeth Meeke. “Foreword”. Count St. Blancard, Arno Press, p. v - xiv.
viii
Literary responses
Elizabeth Meeke
The notice in the Critical Review betrayed impatience with this novel: it was particularly displeased with the proliferation of dukes and duchesses, marquisses and marchionesses, the bad grammar, and the libellous view of the abodes...
Textual Features
Eliza Parsons
The story is set in Germany (which at this date was seen in England as the land of romance)
Hoeveler, Diane Long, and Eliza Parsons. “Introduction”. The Castle of Wolfenbach, edited by Diane Long Hoeveler and Diane Long Hoeveler, Valancourt Books, p. vii - xvii.
x
and the heroine, Matilda Weimar, appears to be German, though she turns out to...
Reception
Eliza Parsons
The Critical Review judged this a novel not one of the first order, or even of the second, and its characters too darkly tinted. The two plots were not sufficiently connected and the language had...
Textual Features
Eliza Parsons
The heroine is abandoned as a two-year-old on a beach in northern Ireland by a mysterious traveller, together with fine linen marked with an L. and an unexplained number. The locals are Nelly and Dermont...
Literary responses
Eliza Parsons
The Critical Review judged that the modesty with which [Parsons] deprecates the severity of criticism demand and deserve our applause. It approved the style, too, though not the number of digressions, and enjoyed Eugenia's foolish...
Literary responses
Eliza Parsons
The Critical feared that with many instructive lessons the novel lacked amusement and was furthermore predictably plotted.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press.
1: 688
Devendra P. Varma
, admirer of EP
's gothic novels, found this one commonplace and its...
Literary responses
Eliza Parsons
Most published comment on EP
has been confined to her gothic novels, and most gothicists (Montague Summers
and Devendra P. Varma
, for instance) have treated her grudgingly: less than mediocre
Hoeveler, Diane Long, and Eliza Parsons. “Introduction”. The Castle of Wolfenbach, edited by Diane Long Hoeveler and Diane Long Hoeveler, Valancourt Books, p. vii - xvii.
viii
and respectable...
Cultural formation
Eleanor Sleath
ES
belonged to the presumably white, English upper-middle class or minor gentry. She was baptised a member of the Anglican Church
, though gothicists Michael Sadleir
and Devendra P. Varma
, who had different theories...
Literary Setting
Eleanor Sleath
The story opens in the year 1605 in a cottage near the Jura Mountains. Later scenes set in Salzburg convinced Devendra P. Varma
that Sleath was personally acquainted with that city.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eliza Parsons. “Introduction”. Castle of Wolfenbach, Folio Press, p. xiii - xxiv.
xix
Julie de...
Publishing
Eleanor Sleath
The facsimile of 1972 has an introduction by Devendra P. Varma
.
Reception
Eleanor Sleath
Gothicist Devendra P. Varma
believed this to be perhaps ES
's best work, both poetic and atmospheric, possessing a talismanic power.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eleanor Sleath. “Introduction”. The Nocturnal Minstrel; or, The Spirit of the Wood, Arno Press, p. i - xiii.
i
Textual Production
Eleanor Sleath
Sleath's editor Devendra P. Varma
spells the title Glenoven.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eleanor Sleath. “Introduction”. The Nocturnal Minstrel; or, The Spirit of the Wood, Arno Press, p. i - xiii.
ii
Varma, Devendra P., and Eleanor Sleath. “Introduction”. The Orphan of the Rhine, Folio Press, p. vii - xi.
xi
Timeline
1797: A book by T. Wilson entitled The Use of Circulating...
Writing climate item
1797
A book by T. Wilson
entitled The Use of Circulating Libraries Considered gave detailed advice on setting up such a library as a business.
Texts
Varma, Devendra P., and Elizabeth Meeke. “Foreword”. Count St. Blancard, Arno Press, 1977, p. v - xiv.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eliza Parsons. “Introduction”. Castle of Wolfenbach, Folio Press, 1968, p. xiii - xxiv.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eliza Parsons. “Introduction”. The Mysterious Warning, Folio Press, 1968, p. vii - xvi.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eleanor Sleath. “Introduction”. The Orphan of the Rhine, Folio Press, 1968, p. vii - xi.
Varma, Devendra P., and Eleanor Sleath. “Introduction”. The Nocturnal Minstrel; or, The Spirit of the Wood, Arno Press, 1972, p. i - xiii.
Varma, Devendra P., and Isabella Kelly. “Introduction”. The Abbey of St. Asaph, Arno Press, 1977, p. v - xxxii.
Sleath, Eleanor, and Devendra P. Varma. The Orphan of the Rhine. Folio Press, 1968.
