Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton
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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.
MEB
sought here to follow Bulwer-Lytton
's advice to produce a story in which action flowed from character, rather than characters being merely marionettes, the slaves of the story.
Wolff, Robert Lee. Sensational Victorian. Garland.
159
Set in contemporary London and...
Textual Features
Anne Mozley
The review of Adam Bede is indeed most perceptive as well as detailed. AM
begins by noticing how novels have been expanding their empire: how many have been added to their readership by the newer...
Textual Features
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
In a letter to Bulwer-Lytton
from this period, Braddon admits studying the inventive plotting of Frédéric Soulié
and borrowing from it.
Wolff, Robert Lee. Sensational Victorian. Garland.
128
This plot-driven sensation novel features a former valet, Joseph Wilmot, who, having taken...
Textual Features
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Much of RBLBL
's non-fictional writing, both public statement and private life-writing, makes explicit the personal and professional experiences, the social critique, and the hatred of her husband
, which are all evident in her novels.
Textual Features
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington
The setting is fashionable society in Rome. Characters based on actual originals include a caricature of Bulwer-Lytton
as Webworth (an allusion to his his estate at Knebworth).
Burmester, James et al. English Books. James Burmester Rare Books.
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...
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...
Textual Features
Flora Tristan
One chapter, entitled English Women, criticizes British social systems, and details the consequences women suffer because of the indissolubility of marriage.
Tristan, Flora. Flora Tristan’s London Journal, 1840. Translators Palmer, Dennis and Giselle Pincetl, Charles River Books.
The 1881 census lists them in Tormoham (a part of Torquay): FMP
's mother was listed as the householder, and Frances Mary was listed as without occupation.
“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Torquay at the time of their arrival was...
Reception
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Informal and critical responses to The Doctor's Wife during its serialisation caused MEB
to revise the conclusion. She admitted to Bulwer-Lytton
in a letter dated 7 September 1864 that I am so apt to be...
Reception
Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington
This book sparked both sensation and controversy. It was the starting point for Blessington's friendships with Isaac D'Israeli
and Edward Bulwer-Lytton
.
Feldman, Paula R., editor. British Women Poets of the Romantic Era. John Hopkins University Press.
149
Some critics were sceptical as to whether her friendship with Byron had...
Reception
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Louisa Devey claimed she was publishing the letters in vindication of her [RBLBL
's] memory
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton, and Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton. “Editorial Materials”. Letters of the Late Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton, to His Wife, edited by Louisa Devey, G. W. Dillingham.
prelims
in the face of criticism from the surviving Lytton family.
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton, and Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton. “Editorial Materials”. Letters of the Late Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton, to His Wife, edited by Louisa Devey, G. W. Dillingham.
prelims
In addition to Edward
's letters, the...
Reception
Fanny Aikin Kortright
Geraldine Jewsbury
's review in the Athenæum was merciless (although she guessed the gender of the author). She called the novel an eminently vulgar book, written apparently with great ease and satisfaction to herself.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1647 (1859): 675
Publishing
Marion Moss
The sisters had access to some distinguished subscribers. They included not only Bulwer Lytton
(despite his conversionist characterisation of Jewish women in Leila)
Galchinsky, Michael. The Origin of the Modern Jewish Woman Writer. Wayne State University Press.
