Eliza Haywood Libri

Fantomina, or, Love in a Maze is a novella by Eliza Haywood which charts an unnamed female protagonist’s pursuit of the charming, shallow Beauplaisir. Dealing with major themes such as identity, class and sexual desire, and first published in 1725, Fantomina subverts the popular ‘persecuted maiden’ narrative, and reaches a climax which would have shocked its contemporary readership. Moving to London, a young woman – let’s call her Fantomina – meets a dashing man at the theatre. After a short, but intense, fling, Beauplaisir grows bored of Fantomina, and leaves her. Outraged that she should be so treated, Fantomina discards her disguise in favour of another, and sets off in hot pursuit of her victim, and a game of cat and mouse begins. This edition features an introduction by Dr Sarah R. Creel, Bethany E. Qualls and Dr Anna K. Sagal of the International Eliza Haywood Society. '[It] is right to deplore “Haywood’s invisibility to modern political historians”, but now we see her in focus, she matters for the imaginative power of her writing.' — Thomas Keymer, London Review of Books 'Haywood’s place in literary history is equally remarkable and as neglected, misunderstood and misrepresented as her oeuvre.' — Paula R. Backscheider

Eliza Haywood's last novel offers a unique perspective on marriage and courtship among the mid-eighteenth-century leisure classes, characterized by its unsentimental realism. The engaging prose captures the nuances of courtship, making it both amusing and insightful. This edition, edited by John Richetti, includes a new introduction and is fully annotated, reviving a work that has been out of print since the early nineteenth century. It showcases Haywood's significant contributions to literature as one of the era's most prolific female authors.

The book offers annotated scholarly editions of two novels, featuring a comprehensive introduction and valuable appendices. It explores the significance of masquerades in the context of eighteenth-century discussions surrounding gender, morality, and identity, providing a rich analysis of these themes within the narratives.

This collection of early works by Eliza Haywood includes the well-known novella Fantomina (1725) along with three other short, engaging Haywood works. Also includes an introduction that focuses on Haywood's life and career and on the status of prose fiction in the early eighteenth century, and appendices of contextual materials from the period.

Published together for the first time, Eliza Haywood's Anti-Pamela and Henry Fielding's An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews are the two most important responses to Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela. Anti-Pamela comments on Richardson's representations of work, virtue, and gender, while also questioning the generic expectations of the novel that Pamela establishes, and it provides a vivid portrayal of the material realities of life for a woman in eighteenth-century London. Fielding's Shamela punctures both the figure Richardson established for himself as an author and Pamela's preoccupation with virtue.This Broadview edition also includes a rich selection of historical materials, including writings from the period on sexuality, women's work, Pamela and the print trade, and education and conduct.

Exploring themes of desire and morality, the anti-heroine in this work challenges societal expectations of women's behavior in marriage. The story contrasts her with a virtuous heroine who, despite resisting royal advances, succumbs to passion and ultimately faces ruin through an affair. Eliza Haywood, a pioneering female author in 18th-century England, crafted these tales of intrigue that captivated and provoked controversy. Her contributions, alongside those of contemporaries like Daniel Defoe, significantly shaped the emerging market for fiction during this era.

Eliza Haywood (1693-1756) was on of the most successful writers of her time; indeed, the two most popular English novels in the early eighteenth-century were Robinson Crusoe and Haywood's first novel, Love in Excess. As this edition enables modern readers to discover, its enormous success is easy to understand. schovat popis