Memoirs of Emma Courtney
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Book Overview
In November of 1795, after William Godwin requested a sketch of Mary Hays' life, she arrived at the idea of Memoirs of Emma Courtney. Godwin followed up his request with a "hint" that a fictional exploration of the painful experience she had undergone in her relationship with William Frend might help her to come to terms with it. It was to be an "instructive rather than self indulgent" work. The resulting novel is one of the most interesting and important explorations of gender-related issues of the time. Emma is exposed to a series of situations--motherlessness, orphanhood, poverty, dependence, and more--which encourage her to reflect "on the inequalities of society, the source of every misery and vice, and on the peculiar disadvanteges of my sex." The novel quickly became viewed as "a scandalous disrobing in public" but it has endured as much on the basis of its readability as on its pointed social commentary.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1551111551
ISBN13:9781551111551
Release Date:January 2000
Publisher:Broadview Press Inc
Length:340 Pages
Weight:0.92 lbs.
Related Subjects
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2 ratings
One of the great political novels of the 1790s
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
Any fan of Mary Wollstonecraft should turn next to books like this one. Hays's novel is part of the first wave of responses to *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman* (1792) and shows that Wollstonecraft could produce thoughtful responses from British radicals that balance the unthinking ones from conservatives. With Amelia Opie's *Adeline Mowbray*, this novel tells us much about early British feminism and its interest in the novel. Broadview's texts, furthermore, are excellent and provide wonderful supporting materials; this one is no exception.
One of the great political novels of the 1790s
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
Any fan of Mary Wollstonecraft should turn next to books like this one. Hays's novel is part of the first wave of responses to *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman* (1792) and shows that Wollstonecraft could produce thoughtful responses from British radicals that balance the unthinking ones from conservatives. With Amelia Opie's *Adeline Mowbray*, this novel tells us much about early British feminism and its interest in the novel.
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