British Women Writers and the Profession of Literary Criticism, 1789-1832 (Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Cultures of Print)

This book examines professional literary criticism by Romantic-era British women to reveal that, while developing a conscious professionalism, women literary critics helped to shape the aesthetic models that defined Romantic-era literary values and made the British literary heritage a source of national pride. Women critics understood the contested nature of aesthetics and the public implications of aesthetic values on questions such as morality, both public and private, the nation's cultural heritage, even the essential qualities of Britishness itself. Proposing a new model for the history and development of literary criticism in England, British Women Writers and the Profession of Literary Criticism, 1789-1832 argues that while British literary culture became increasingly commercial and middle-class, women literary critics found unprecedented opportunities for professionalism and public authority. Professional literary criticism allowed these women writers to influence issues of national concern - morality, both public and private, the nation's cultural heritage, the essential qualities of Britishness itself. Romantic-era women critics demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the constructed and contested nature of aesthetics and the role of aesthetics in shaping the culture at large. They show lively interest in the relationship between the author, the authorial persona and the reading audience. Underscoring the collaborative nature of literary production, the book engages debates about British Romantic period professionalism, the dynamics of print culture, the nascent consciousness of a reading public, nationalism, and the literary canon while establishing the existence of conscious professionalism among Romantic-era women writers Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction....Pages 1-23 Front Matter....Pages 25-27 The British Common Reader: Critical Prefaces by Anna Letitia Barbauld....Pages 28-56 Renouncing the Forms: The Case of Elizabeth Inchbald....Pages 57-81 Front Matter....Pages 83-85 “The first of a new genus —”: Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Hays, and The Analytical Review ....Pages 86-120 Periodicals and Middle-Class Dissent: Anna Letitia Barbauld and Elizabeth Moody at the Monthly Review ....Pages 121-150 The Next Generation: Harriet Martineau’s Literary Reviews for the Monthly Repository ....Pages 151-177 Back Matter....Pages 178-225

This book examines professional literary criticism by Romantic-era British women to reveal that, while developing a conscious professionalism, women literary critics helped to shape the aesthetic models that defined Romantic literary values and made the British literary heritage a source of national pride. Women critics understood the contested nature of aesthetics and the public implications of aesthetic values on questions such as morality, both public and private, the nation's cultural heritage, even the essential qualities of Britishness itself.