Castle Rackrent : an Hibernian tale taken from facts, and from the manners of the Irish squires, before the year 1782 / Maria Edgeworth ; advisory editor, Castle Rackrent: Julie Nash (University of Massachusetts Lowell).

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edgeworth, Maria, 1768-1849, author.

Contributor:

Nash, Julie, 1969- editor.

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Series:

Broadview anthology of British literature edition

A Broadview anthology of British literature edition

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ireland--Fiction.

Ireland.

Genre:

Fiction.

Domestic fiction.

Novels.

Physical Description:

146 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Edition:

A Broadview anthology of British literature edition.

Place of Publication:

Peterborough, Ontario, Canada : Broadview Press, [2019]

Summary:

"Castle Rackrent--Maria Edgeworth's first novel, and the work for which she was and is best known--occupies a most unusual place in the history both of Irish literature and of English-language fiction. It has sometimes been called the first historical novel in English literature, yet in its tone it more closely resembles a comedy of manners than anything in the genre that has come to be known as "the historical novel." It has been identified as the first of other lines as well--the first English novel written in a non-standard dialect, the first "provincial" or "regional" novel, and the first in what developed into the "big house" tradition of novels focused on the lives of the Anglo-Irish Protestant landholding class that dominated much of Ireland for centuries. Its innovative use of an unreliable narrator makes it also, arguably, an important milestone in the development of the novel form as a whole. Castle Rackrent chronicles the declining fortunes and ultimate ruin of the Rackrent family through the mishandling of their estate by a series of incompetent and irresponsible heirs. Edgeworth attested in a letter she wrote years later that "the only character drawn from the life" in the novel is Thady Quirk (servant to the Rackrent family, and the novel's narrator). But the novel as a whole is grounded in real events--the careless landlords and the "middle men who grind the face of the poor" described in Edgeworth's fiction were very real in eighteenth-century Ireland. This edition does more than any other to set this classic novel in the political, economic, and religious context of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Irish life; in addition to an illuminating introduction, the edition includes a variety of background historical materials."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Colonialism and Oppression: The Historical Background p. 101

From Arthur Young, A Tour in Ireland, 1776-79 (1780) p. 105

The Rebellions of 1798 and 1803, and the Acts of Union p. 111

From Wolfe Tone, "An Argument on Behalf of the Catholics of Ireland" (1791) p. 111

From The Reading Mercury and Oxford Gazette, 23 July 1798 p. 113

From "Examination of William James MacNeven before the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, Dublin," 7 and 8 August 1798 p. 115

Songs of '98 p. 119

"Slievenamon" (date unknown) p. 119

Carroll Malone, "The Croppy Boy" (1845) p. 120

From Francis Moylan, Letter to Thomas Pelham, 9 March 1799 p. 122

From Report of a Motion Brought before the Irish House of Commons, as Presented in The Aberdeen Journal, 10 March 1800 p. 124

From Anne Devlin, The Life, Imprisonment, Suffering and Death of Anne Devlin (1851) p. 125

Letters to The Times Regarding Tithes p. 127

From Letter to The Times, 14 November 1804 p. 128

From Letter to The Times, 24 November 1804 p. 129

Maria Edgeworth on Castle Rackrent, and on the Irish p. 132

From Maria Edgeworth, Letter to Mrs. Stark (1834) p. 132

From Maria Edgewotth, An Essay on Irish Bulls (1803) p. 133

From Chapter 14: Bath Coach Conversation p. 134

From Conclusion p. 135

Reviews and Early Nineteenth-Century Comments on Castle Rackrent p. 137

Unsigned Review, Monthly Review (May 1800) p. 137

Unsigned Review Notice, The British Critic (November 1800) p. 138

From Anonymous, "Novels Descriptive of Irish Life" Edinburgh Review 52 (1831) p. 138

From "Miss Edgeworth's Tales And Novels," Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country 35 (November 1832) p. 140.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781554814596

1554814596

OCLC:

1083035107