Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel is the first in-depth study of Rowe¿s prose fiction. A four-volume collection of her work was a bestseller for a hundred years after its publication, but today Rowe is a largely unrecognized figure in the history of the novel.
Although her poetry was appreciated by poets such as Alexander Pope for its metrical craftsmanship, beauty, and imagery, by the time of her death in 1737 she was better known for her fiction. According to Paula R. Backscheider, Rowe's major focus in her novels was on creating characters who were seeking a harmonious, contented life, often in the face of considerable social pressure. This quest would become the plotline in a large number of works in the second half of the eighteenth century, and it continues to be a major theme today in novels by women.
Backscheider relates Rowe¿s work to popular fiction written by earlier writers as well as by her contemporaries. Rowe had a lasting influence on major movements, including the politeness (or gentility) movement, the reading revolution, and the Bluestocking society. The author reveals new information about each of these movements, and Elizabeth Singer Rowe emerges as an important innovator. Her influence resulted in new types of novel writing, philosophies, and lifestyles for women. Backscheider looks to archival materials, literary analysis, biographical evidence, and a configuration of cultural and feminist theories to prove her groundbreaking argument.
Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel is the first in-depth study of Rowe¿s prose fiction. A four-volume collection of her work was a bestseller for a hundred years after its publication, but today Rowe is a largely unrecognized figure in the history of the novel.
Although her poetry was appreciated by poets such as Alexander Pope for its metrical craftsmanship, beauty, and imagery, by the time of her death in 1737 she was better known for her fiction. According to Paula R. Backscheider, Rowe's major focus in her novels was on creating characters who were seeking a harmonious, contented life, often in the face of considerable social pressure. This quest would become the plotline in a large number of works in the second half of the eighteenth century, and it continues to be a major theme today in novels by women.
Backscheider relates Rowe¿s work to popular fiction written by earlier writers as well as by her contemporaries. Rowe had a lasting influence on major movements, including the politeness (or gentility) movement, the reading revolution, and the Bluestocking society. The author reveals new information about each of these movements, and Elizabeth Singer Rowe emerges as an important innovator. Her influence resulted in new types of novel writing, philosophies, and lifestyles for women. Backscheider looks to archival materials, literary analysis, biographical evidence, and a configuration of cultural and feminist theories to prove her groundbreaking argument.
An important, pioneering work, this book clears many hurdles with one jump, propelling a previously neglected author firmly into her appropriate place in the canon. Backscheider reveals Rowe's importance as an indispensable voice in literary history and models sophisticated interpretive strategies for the future. A vast achievement. -- Toni Bowers, University of Pennsylvania
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction: Locating Elizabeth Singer Rowe
1. Positioning Rowe's Fiction
2. Isles of Happiness
3. Toward Novelistic Discourse
4. The Beautiful Life
Conclusion: Lifestyle as Legacy
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Paula R. Backscheider is the Philpott-Stevens Eminent Scholar at Auburn University. She is the author and editor of numerous books, including Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre; Daniel Defoe: His Life; and Revising Women: Eighteenth-Century "Women's Fiction" and Social Engagement, all published by Johns Hopkins.
It seems certain, given Backscheider's impressive track record as a revisionary influence upon eighteenth-century studies, that this generous book, abounding in perceptions waiting to be gleshed out, will energize a round of 'next-generation' research into Rowe and her legacy. -- Kathryn R. King Review of English Studies Both original and provocative, Paula Backscheider's new book is also deeply learned and comprehensive in its scholarship... -- John Richetti Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature Paula R. Backsheider's latest book seeks to establish, with impressive detail and energy, the centrality of the fiction of Elizabeth Singer Rowe to the development of the English novel. -- Gillian Skinner Modern Literary Review
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