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 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.
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...
Friends, Associates
Caroline Norton
Before her marriage CN
had formed a friendship with the Irish poet Tom Moore
, once a crony of her famous grandfather; this friendship endured into her middle age. It was also as Richard Brinsley...
Literary responses
Margaret Oliphant
MO
's The Secret Chamber, which first appeared in Blackwood's in December 1876 and was reprinted in Tales from Blackwood (1778-80 series), was called by the Athenæum perhaps the most striking ghost story since...
Literary responses
Ouida
The Athenæum criticized the novel for its monotonous misery and suggested that the author should have left religious speculation alone instead of using the novel to insist that Christianity as a Religion of Love is...
Residence
Frances Mary Peard
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...
Literary responses
Frances Mary Peard
This book began a friendship between FMP
and Edward Bulwer Lytton
, who asked for an introduction because he so much admired her style.
Harris, Mary J. Y. Memoirs of Frances Mary Peard. W. H. Smith.
Her husband, Edward Bulwer (later Bulwer Lytton)
, was embarrassed by Cheveley, seeing himself in the portrait of Lord De Clifford and his predilection for governesses,
Sutherland, John. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press.
119
and tried to block the novel's production...
Characters
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
It opens with a Notice attacking her critics, the same gang of male and female Infamies employed before by the great Literary Bombastes.
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. Very Successful!. Whitaker.
preface
The heroine is a woman who rashly married and is now...
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.
Material Conditions of Writing
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
She sometimes kept a journal. Visiting Naples with her husband
she noted down brief accounts of sensational incidents of violence against her;
Roberts, Marie Mulvey. “’The Very Worst Woman I ever Heard of’: Rosina Bulwer Lytton and biography as vindication”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
25
, No. 2, pp. 253-67.
259
shortly before their separation she wrote: I have always remarked that every...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
In it she used public humiliation in an attempt to persuade her husband
to increase her allowance. She denounced him as a literary Cagliostro
, political Titus Oates
and marital Henry the Eighth—
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, p. vi - xxxvi.
xxvi
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...
Family and Intimate relationships
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton
Rosina Wheeler
married novelist Edward Bulwer
(later Edward Bulwer Lytton); his mother strongly opposed the marriage.
He changed his name to Bulwer Lytton on inheriting his mother's estates.
Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton,. “Introduction”. A Blighted Life, edited by Marie Mulvey Roberts, Thoemmes, p. vi - xxxvi.