The ExcursionUniversity Press of Kentucky, 21. 11. 2021 - Počet stran: 240 Frances Brooke (1724-1789), journalist, translator, playwright, novelist, and even co-manager of a theater, was described as "perhaps the first female novel-writer who attained a perfect purity and polish of style." Today, Brooke is known primarily for The History of Emily Montague, one of the earliest novels about Canada, where she lived for a number of years. But it is her third novel, The Excursion, that is an important example of the fashionable and popular English novels of the late 1770s. Written for the very audience it portrays, this novel introduces the heroine, Maria Villiers, to London's "gentle" society and its glittering pastimes. Brooke drew upon the English courtship novel in the tradition of Eliza Haywood, Henry Fielding, and Frances Burney for her novel's overarching plot structure. But instead of concentrating on Maria's romantic adventures, she experiments with unusual treatments of subplots and unconventional characters. The most interesting aspect of her story is the development of Maria's ambition to win fame and fortune as a writer; it is one of the few portraits of a woman with literary ambitions by an early woman writer. Brooke's wry narrative voice foreshadows that of Jane Austen. The editors' introduction places The Excursion firmly in the tradition of the English novel, provides a fresh biography of Brooke, and brings together the most important eighteenth- and twentieth-century criticism of Brooke's work. The second volume in the series Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women, The Excursion contributes to our understanding of the development of the novel and offers a lively view of women's position in eighteenth-century English society. |
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... natural right to expose herself as much as she pleases . . . and since I feel a violent inclination to show my prodigious wisdom to my cotemporaries [sic], I should think it giving up the privileges of the sex to desist from my purpose ...
... natural,” “pure,” and elegant,”43 and Brooke's continuation of the French novel's extended attention to emotions and subtle differences in emotions contributed to Brooke's lively analysis of fashionable London and her tendency to judge ...
... acerbic commentary on marriage in this novel, she has characters observe that the Hurons believe marriage for life “contrary to the laws of nature and reason” (1:67); one character makes a telling comparison between marriage.
... natural sensibility, while Lord Melvile's is undeveloped and surprises him when it dictates his responses. It is described as a “warm susceptibility of soul,” which his corrupted reason often suppresses. Colonel Herbert, perhaps the ...
... Nature, faded away before the dazzling blaze of a coronet” (1:1:9). The narrator maintains a relationship with the reader, often sharing worldly smiles, regrets over the evil in humankind, and nods of agreement over commonplace opinions ...
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Note on the Text | |
Notes to the Novel | |
Revisions Made in the Second Edition | |
Selected Bibliography | |