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
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
Occupation Constance Smedley
Since the Langham Place Group had provided a social space for women in 1860, several organizations had already challenged the flourishing institution of men's clubs. The Lyceum Club came on the scene at a time...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Edith J. Simcox
EJS could be unreservedly critical in her reviews: she deemed Mary Elizabeth Braddonanother victim to the diseased appetite of the class that would rather read half-a-dozen bad novels than one good one, and...
Textual Features Dorothy L. Sayers
Here she mounts a powerful appreciation of the novel, both for its importance in the development of the detective story (all the clues, she says, are clearly conveyed to the reader, something which seldom happened...
Textual Features James Malcolm Rymer
The penny dreadful genre borrowed much from the chapbook tradition both in textual production and readership, as well as from the gothic, depicting scenes of violent crime, horror, and the supernatural. E. F. Bleiler ...
Publishing Charlotte Riddell
CR 's next publishers, Tinsley Brothers , had close ties to the circulating libraries and provided a real boost to her career. Their biggest recent success had been Mary Elizabeth Braddon 's Lady Audley's Secret...
Education Henry Handel Richardson
The child Ethel Richardson was a great reader. She identified with male fictional characters, and cherished three books which her father gave her almost on his death-bed: The Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan , Robinson Crusoe...
Literary responses Ouida
In a Book Buyer article of January 1897, American novelist and short story writer Stephen Crane called this novel Ouida's Masterpiece and a song of the brave. He particularly liked the character Cigarette, a figure...
Reception Ouida
Within a few years of her first novel's publication, Ouida had attained some celebrity as a writer, but not all the attention she received was positive. While her sales were strong, she was attacked for...
Textual Features Margaret Oliphant
Oliphant develops an extended critique of her chief bugbears, Mary Elizabeth Braddon (the leader of her school
Oliphant, Margaret. “Novels”. Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol.
102
, W. Blackwood, pp. 257-80.
265
), Rhoda Broughton (not by name, but as author of Cometh Up As a Flower),...
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...
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
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...
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...
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...

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.