Emmeline - Paperback

by Charlotte Smith (Author), Loraine Fletcher (Editor)

"Emmeline is one of the most delightful, absorbing English novels of the eighteenth century. We are lucky to have Loraine Fletcher's beautifully contextualized, well-anotated edition in print." -- Adela Pinch, University of Michigan

Back Jacket

The plot of Charlotte Smith's autobiographical first novel Emmeline (1788) includes the usual thrills of the eighteenth-century courtship novel: abduction, duels, and a "fairy tale princess." At the same time, the novel satirically reworks such literary conventions by focusing on the dangers of early engagement and marriage, and challenges a social and legal system in which woment are inherently illegitimate subjects.

The Broadview edition includes primary source material relating to the novel's reception; women, marriage and work; and landscape in eighteenth-century fiction. Mary Hays's biographical writing on Smith is also included, as is selected correspondence.

Author Biography

Loraine Fletcher is a Lecturer at Reading University, UK. She is the author of Charlotte Smith: A Critical Biography (Macmillan Academic Press, 1998).