1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910163994703321

Autore

Breashears Caroline

Titolo

Eighteenth-Century Women's Writing and the 'Scandalous Memoir' / / by Caroline Breashears

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2016

ISBN

9783319486550

3319486551

Edizione

[1st ed. 2016.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (124 pages)

Collana

Palgrave Pivot

Disciplina

828.50809

Soggetti

Literature, Modern - 18th century

European literature

Eighteenth-Century Literature

European Literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction: Innovations in the "Scandalous Memoir" -- 2. The Business of Pleasure: The Life-Writings of Lady Vane and Madame de La Touche -- 3. Novel Memoirs: The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle and Memoirs of a Lady of Quality -- 4. The Family, Sex, and Marriage: Catherine Jemmat's Memoirs -- 5. "My Country is the World!" Margaret Coghlan's Revolutionary Memoirs -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This book contributes to the literary history of eighteenth-century women's life writings, particularly those labeled "scandalous memoirs." It examines how the evolution of this subgenre was shaped partially by several innovative memoirs that have received only modest critical attention. Breashears argues that Madame de La Touche's Apologie and her friend Lady Vane's Memoirs contributed to the crystallization of this sub-genre at mid-century, and that Lady Vane's collaboration with Tobias Smollett in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle resulted in a brilliant experiment in the relationship between gender and genre. It demonstrates that the Memoirs of Catherine Jemmat incorporated influential new strategies for self-justification in response to changing kinship priorities, and that Margaret Coghlan's Memoirs introduced



revolutionary themes that created a hybrid: the political scandalous memoir. This bookwill therefore appeal to scholars interested in life writing, women's history, genre theory, and eighteenth-century British literature. Caroline Breashears is Associate Professor of English at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, USA. Her publications include essays about novels and eighteenth-century women's memoirs.