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CMP#72  A Serious Novel

9/27/2021

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  “Dr. John Moore (1729-1802) was a man of the Enlightenment who wrote novels during the Revolutionary decade.” 
     "Moore's novels helped establish the 'modern novel' as no longer just the diversion of leisured middle-class ladies and their female servants (the widely held view at the time), but as something fit for 'enlightened' men (and women) to read."                                         -- Scholar Gary Kelly on John Moore

CMP#72  A Serious Novel, not like one of those trashy novels
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   You can safely embark on an 18th century novel about a foundling boy with the assurance that the mystery of his true parentage will be solved, probably by means of an amazing coincidence. The only suspenseful part is the question of how did he, a boy of good family, end up as a foundling in the first place.
   In his 1796 novel Edward, author John Moore does provide the answer, but first he takes us on a great many detours. As an early reviewer of 
Edward said in The Analytical Review, “the history of Edward is but the slender thread on which a variety of different incidents are strung, to exhibit... caricatured characters.”
  
I started on Edward because I had read somewhere that it contained a portrait of a hard-drinking, riding-to-hounds sort of clergyman. I was interested in sampling novels that were critical of the clergy, because of the popular idea that Jane Austen was daringly critical with her portraits of Mr. Collins, Mr. Elton, and Dr. Grant. However, Edward: Various Views of Human Nature, Taken from Life and Manners, Chiefly in England, does not have that kind of a clergyman. There is only a passing sneer from a gambler named Mr. Shuffle about the drinking habits of clergymen and another passing sneer from an effete aristocrat about their gluttony. In other words, the critiques of clergymen come from disreputable characters in the book.
     At any rate, I came for the clergyman but stayed for the orphan, plucky little Edward Evilen. 
     Continued after the jump...    


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CMP#71   Sleath and Slavery

9/16/2021

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CMP#71  "Other Subjects of Discourse:" Sleath on Slavery
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     In my mini-series on Mansfield Park and the topic of slavery, I shared examples of authors of Austen's era who were far more explicit about slavery than Austen. More recently, I came across the 1809 novel The Bristol Heiress by Eleanor Sleath and was curious to read it because it was about an heiress from Bristol. Bristol was notorious as a place where fortunes were made from the slave trade and related industries.
    While slavery does not play a role in the plot of The Bristol Heiress, two other families derive their wealth directly or indirectly from the slave trade, and another character gets a fortune from a rich relative in the East Indies. (For more about colonial wealth as a plot device, see this post.)
    I outline the plot of The Bristol Heiress here. I discuss the similarities to 
Northanger Abbey here. ​It's main theme is the moral pitfalls arising out of faulty education. But because the references to slavery in the book are both so jarring and so telling, I saved this topic to discuss separately. 
     If you'd like to read a fictional conversation about slavery published in 1809 which represents different points of view, including the point of view of a plantation-owner, read on. If you think it would distress you more than inform you, please don't read it. I have left out the worst of the worst.    


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CMP#70  Austen and the Test of Time

9/13/2021

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CMP#70  Austen and the Test of Time: "It Ain't Just About Being Old."
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     A prominent and influential educator recently tweeted: “Did y’all know that many of the ‘classics’ were written before the 50s? Think of U.S. society before then and the values that shaped this nation afterwards. THAT is what is in those books. That is why we gotta switch it up. It ain’t just about ‘being old.’”
    Twitter doesn’t allow for nuance, so I am going to assume this educator is in fact aware that we don’t read books just because they are old, despite the fact that she actually says, “It ain’t just about ‘being old.’” 
​   I knew there were plenty of novels published in Jane Austen’s day, but I didn't know there were hundreds and hundreds of novels. Over the decades, the others have fallen away, and Austen’s works remain standing. The test of time takes time.


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CMP#69  The Bristol Heiress, part two

9/9/2021

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   In today's post we're looking at a five volume novel, The Bristol Heiress, by Eleanor Sleath.
​   For more posts about now-obscure 18th century authors, click the category "Authoresses" to the right

CMP#69  I'll See Your Three Volumes and I'll Raise You Two More
PictureNobleman seeks rich merchant's daughter for matrimony
     In my last post, I shared some similarities between an 1809 novel, The Bristol Heiress, and Northanger Abbey. Most of the Austenesque coincidences came in the first and second volume of The Bristol Heiress. There's a lot more novel to get through. Spoilers ahead!
    This novel features the popular themes of: (1) faulty education for girls and (2) London as a sinkhole of vice.

    Caroline Percival, our heroine, is the daughter of a rich but low-born (ie merchant family) mother and a well-born banker. The wife's money is necessary to the plot, but she isn't, so she's dispatched at the beginning of the novel. The father sends Caroline, who is an only child, to a boarding school in London to learn from the best masters. She grows up to be a beauty and she's taught all of the basic ladylike accomplishments. Her aristocratic aunt Lady Harcourt takes her up. Dad is thrilled because with Lady Harcourt to escort her around London society, Caroline has a good chance of making a brilliant match.
    Decadent Lady Harcourt fastens on dad like a parasite, telling him he has to renovate his mansion and buy expensive clothes and jewels for his daughter, but a lot of the money goes into her pocket. Although Mr. Percival's fondest dream is to see his daughter with a coronet on her head, he lets the handsome but poor young clergyman Mr. Griffiths escort his lovely young daughter around the countryside every day to give her painting and sketching lessons. Of course the young people fall in love, but Mr. Griffiths can't speak because of the wealth gap between them and Caroline won't admit her love because her ambition is to marry a rich aristocrat. 


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    About the author:

    More about me here. My earlier posts (prior to June 2017) are about my time as a teacher of ESL in China,(just click on "China" in the menu below.) more recent posts focus on my writing, as well as Jane Austen and the long 18th century. Welcome!


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