Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
-
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.
BH
had her first short story accepted for Belgravia (formerly edited by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
) after Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine had declined it.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
She went on to publish other contributions to Blackwood's; even by...
Textual Production
Elizabeth Helme
This book bore the author's name as Elizabeth Helme, Jun. and its preface warns that spoiling children may lead them to rush into the vortex of vice and folly
Somerville, Elizabeth Helme. James Manners, Little John, and Their Dog Bluff. Darton and Harvey.
iii
(a phrase characteristic of sensation...
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.
Although HJ
is best remembered as a novelist, he was also a prolific and insightful critic of literature and the arts. Over the course of his career he reviewed many novels by British women writers...
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
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...
Textual Production
Bryony Lavery
BL
's numerous plays for radio include some original and some adapted from other works: Laying Ghosts, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Velma and Therese (a parallel version of the film Thelma and...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Vernon Lee
In her first essay, Lee offers a summary analysis of the English novelistic tradition. Judging them especially, though not entirely, on their treatments of morality, she evaluates writers including Jane Austen
, Maria Edgeworth
,...
Literary responses
Rosamond Lehmann
Reviewers were pleased to see more fiction from Lehmann after nine years, and the book was popular, although not hugely applauded. Those praising it included Edwin Muir
. There was much debate over the real-life...
Textual Production
Katharine S. Macquoid
KSM
first reached print with a short story in a recently-launched periodical, The Welcome Guest, A Magazine for All.
Her publications here and later in Temple Bar and Belgravia magazines suggest a sustained connection...
Textual Production
Helen Mathers
The story, a sketch of her brother-in-law Mr Hamborough
and his wife (the author's sister), was inspired by a visit with them to Jersey in the Channel Islands.
Black, Helen C. Notable Women Authors of the Day. D. Bryce.
75
It was composed, rapidly put...
death
Jean Middlemass
Her obituary in the Times noted her accomplishments as a writer and suggested that her output as a novelist exceeded that of Mary Elizabeth Braddon
.
“Obituary: Miss Jean Middlemass”. Times, p. 15e.
15
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...
Textual Features
Margaret Oliphant
Oliphant develops an extended critique of her chief bugbears, Mary Elizabeth Braddon
(the leader of her school
