Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sophia King
-
Standard Name: King, Sophia
Birth Name: Sophia King
Married Name: Sophia Fortnum
Self-constructed Name: Mrs Fortnum, late Sophia King
Pseudonym: Sappho
SK
, like her sister Charlotte Dacre
, seems to use the sensational in both her poetry and fiction (which span the end of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth) to figure her actual, excruciating family romance. Male libertinism, both sexual and philosophical-radical, is rendered fatally attractive and destructive.
Her first published work was Trifles of Helicon, written jointly with her sister Sophia King
, which had a dedication to their father
dated 14 January 1798, and was out by March. It called...
Family and Intimate relationships
Mary Robinson
MR
's alleged sexual liaison with Jewish financier, money-lender, and radical John King
(father of the writers Charlotte Dacre
and Sophia King
, who at this time were barely out of infancy) seems to have...
Family and Intimate relationships
Maria Barrell
The witnesses who signed the register were Jardine of Applegarth (presumably Sir Alexander, fourth Baronet
, a Knight of Malta), John King
(who may have been the extraordinary self-made Jewish radical financier of that name...
Family and Intimate relationships
Charlotte Dacre
John King
, father of CD
and Sophia King
, published a hard-hitting sociopolitical analysis, Thoughts on the Difficulties and Distresses . . . .
John King
, father of CD
and of Sophia King
, divorced their mother (using a rabbinical court at Leghorn in Italy) and married an English countess.
Dacre, Charlotte. “Introduction”. Zofloya; or, The Moor, edited by Adriana Craciun, Broadview, 1997, pp. 11-36.
12
McCalman, Ian. Radical Underworld. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
36-7
Family and Intimate relationships
Charlotte Dacre
John King
, father of CD
and Sophia King
, dated a letter to Tom Paine
on political developments in France.
King, John, 1753 - 1824, and Thomas, 1737 - 1809 Paine. Mr King’s Speech at Egham. Printed by C. Boult for J. Debrett , 1793.
10-16
Family and Intimate relationships
Charlotte Dacre
John King
, father of CD
and Sophia King
, issued two self-justifying political manifestos: Mr. King's Apology and Oppression Deemed No Injustice Towards Some Individuals.
John King
, father of CD
and Sophia King
, visited Paris: he was escaping creditors, but also making political observations.
Rubens, Alfred. “John King”. Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society, Vol.
xix
, 1955, pp. 36-9.
38
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
2d ser. 37 (1803): 42
Family and Intimate relationships
Charlotte Dacre
CD
's sister, Sophia King
, became, like her, a poet and Gothic novelist.
Intertextuality and Influence
Sappho
Sappho
's name was an honorific for women writers for generations. George Puttenham
may have been the first to use it to compliment a writing woman: in Parthienades, 1579, he said that Queen Elizabeth
Textual Features
Sylvia Kantaris
This volume, through its title, invokes a whole tradition of women's poetry. Sappho
was the first to bear the honorific nickname of tenth muse, which was later freely bestowed on writing women (like Anna Maria van Schurman
Textual Production
Charlotte Dacre
When CD
's sister, Sophia King
, published her twelfth-century romance The Fatal Secret; or, Unknown Warrior, 1801, it carried interspersed lyrics written expressly for it by Dacre as Rosa Matilda. In its...
Timeline
No timeline events available.
Texts
King, Sophia. Cordelia; or, A Romance of Real Life. Minerva, 1799, 2 vols.
King, Sophia. Poems, Legendary, Pathetic, and Descriptive. Printed by S. Burchett, 1804.
King, Sophia. The Adventures of Victor Allen. Hodgson, 1805, 2 vols.
King, Sophia. The Fatal Secret; or, Unknown Warrior. Printed for the author by J. G. Barnard, 1801.
Dacre, Charlotte, and Sophia King. Trifles of Helicon. Ridgeway, 1798.
King, Sophia. Waldorf; or, The Dangers of Philosophy. G. G. and J. Robinson, 1798, 2 vols.
