Belinda (Edgeworth novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Belinda | |
| Author | Maria Edgeworth |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Joseph Johnson |
| Publication date | 1801 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
Belinda is an 1801 novel by the Irish writer Maria Edgeworth.[1] It was first published in three volumes by Joseph Johnson of London in 1801, and was later reprinted by Pandora Press in 1986. The novel was Edgeworth's second published, and was considered controversial in its day for its depiction of an interracial marriage.[2] In its first editions, Juba, an African servant on a plantation in Jamaica, marries an English farmer's daughter. But the third edition of the book, published in 1810, omits the character Juba, and has the heroine betrothed to one James Jackson. It has been argued that this change came at the insistence of Edgeworth's father, rather than the author herself, because her father edited several of her works.[citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] Literary significance and reception
Literary critic George Saintsbury argued that Jane Austen's naturalistic female characters owed a debt to this society novel's spirited heroine.[3] Belinda was itself in the tradition of society novels by writers such as Frances Sheridan and Frances Burney, who also charted the travails of bright young women in search of a good marriage. Aristocrat Lady Delacour in Belinda has been compared to Miss Milner in Elizabeth Inchbald’s A Simple Story (1791). [4]
[edit] References
Edgeworth, Maria (1801). Belinda, 3 vol. 1st ed., London: J. Johnson.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Edgeworth, Maria. Belinda. upenn.edu. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
- ^ McCann, Andrew (Autumn 1996). "Conjugal love and the enlightenment subject: The colonial context of non-identity in Maria Edgeworth's Belinda". findarticles.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
- ^ Jane Austin article. nndb.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
- ^ "Belinda" at the Literary Encyclopedia. litencyc.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
