Women Novelists Before Jane Austen: The Critics and Their Canons

337 Pages·2008·2.677 MB·English

by  Brian Corman

Women Novelists Before Jane Austen:
The Critics and Their Canons
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BRIAN CORMAN
Women Novelists
Before Jane Austen:
The Critics and Their Canons
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
©University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2008
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-0-8020-9770-5
Printed on acid-free paper
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
CoJramjdaenl,s kBari,a Enl,s p19e4th5–
Women novelists before Jane Austen: the critics and their canons / Brian
Corman.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8020-9770-5
1. Women novelists, English – History. 2. English fiction – Women authors
– History and criticism. 3. English fiction – 18th century – History and
criticism. 4. Criticism – Great Britain – History. 5. Women and literature
– Great Britain – History. I. Title.
PR448.W65C67 2008 823'.5099287 C2007-907472-3
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
Ontario Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
For Linda and Sarah
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
1 The Eighteenth Century 9
2 1800–1840 29
3 1840–1880 55
4 1880–1920 109
5 1920–1957 175
Conclusion 251
Appendix: Novels Cited 255
Notes 263
Bibliography 267
Index 287
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Acknowledgments
I have had the benefit of considerable advice, help, and support from
friends, colleagues, and students in preparing this study. I would like
to take this opportunity to record my thanks to: John Baird, Joseph
Bartolomeo, Alan Bewell, Thomas Bonnell, Patricia Brückmann,
Gillian Fenwick, Jocelyn Harris, Heather Jackson, Elizabeth Kraft, Jill
Matus, and Laura Runge; my research assistants: Darryl Domingo,
Anne Lyden, Lenore Morra, Margaret Reeves, and Rebecca Tierney-
Hynes; the students in my Research Opportunities group: Alexandra
Bolintineanu, Sarah Neville, and Katherine Rentschler; my editor
and copy-editor at the University of Toronto Press: Jill McConkey and
Allyson May. I am also grateful for the generous support of the Depart-
ment of English and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University
of Toronto.