| Maria Edgeworth | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1 January 1767 Black Bourton, Oxfordshire |
| Died | 22 May 1849 (aged 82) Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Anglo-Irish |
Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1767 – 22 May 1849) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and children's writer. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature.[1]
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Maria Edgeworth was born at Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, the second child of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Anna Maria Edgeworth née Elers and thus an aunt of Francis Ysidro Edgeworth. On her father's second marriage in 1773, she went with him to Ireland, where she eventually was to settle on his estate, Edgeworthstown, in County Longford. There, she mixed with the Anglo-Irish gentry, particularly Kitty Pakenham (later the wife of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington), Lady Moira, and her aunt Margaret Ruston of Black Castle.[2]
She acted as manager of her father's estate, later drawing on this experience for her novels about the Irish. Edgeworth's early literary efforts were melodramatic rather than realistic. One of her schoolgirl novels features a villain who wore a mask made from the skin of a dead man's face. Maria's first published work was Letters for Literary Ladies in 1795, followed in 1796 by her first children's book, The Parent's Assistant (which included the story The Purple Jar), and in 1800 by her first novel Castle Rackrent, which was an immediate success.[2]
Mr. Edgeworth, a well-known author and inventor, encouraged his daughter's career, and has been criticized for his insistence on approving and editing her work. The tales in The Parent's Assistant were approved by her father before he would allow them to be read to her younger siblings (he had four wives and 22 children). Castle Rackrent was written and submitted for anonymous publication without his knowledge.
In 1802 the Edgeworth family went abroad, first to Brussels and then to Consulate France (during the Peace of Amiens, a brief lull in the Napoleonic Wars). They met all the notables, and Maria received a marriage proposal from a Swedish courtier, Count Edelcrantz. Her letter on the subject seems very cool, but her stepmother assures us in the Augustus Hare Life and Letters that Maria loved him very much and did not get over the affair quickly. They came home to Ireland in 1803 on the eve of the resumption of the wars and Maria returned to writing. Tales of Fashionable Life, The Absentee and Ormond are novels of Irish life.[2]
On a visit to London in 1813 Maria met Lord Byron and Humphry Davy. She entered into a long correspondence with Sir Walter Scott after the publication of Waverley in 1814. She visited him in Scotland at Abbotsford House in 1823 and they formed a lasting friendship.[2]
After her father's death in 1817 she edited his memoirs, and extended them with her biographical comments. She was an active writer to the last, and worked strenuously for the relief of the famine-stricken Irish peasants during the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849). She died in Edgeworthstown in 1849.
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Maria Edgeworth (1768-01-01 – 1849-05-22) was a popular and influential Anglo-Irish novelist, short-story writer and educationalist.
Quotations are cited from Maria Edgeworth Tales and Novels (New York: J. and J. Harper, 1834), 20 vols.
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| Maria Edgeworth | |
|---|---|
| File:Maria Edgeworth, by Richard | |
| Born | 1 January 1767 Black Bourton, Oxfordshire |
| Died | May 22, 1849 (aged 82) Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ireland |
| Nationality | Anglo-Irish |
Maria Edgeworth was a novelist in the early nineteenth century.
Maria Edgeworth was born in Oxfordshire in 1767 or 1768. She was the daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Anna Maria Edgeworth. When her father married again to his second wife, she went with him to Ireland. There, she helped her father and managed her father's land. Because of this, she became friends with lots of fashionable people and Irish peasantry. This knowledge was very useful to her later in writing her novels. At first she used to write for children, but in 1800 she published her first adults' novel, Castle Rackrent. Lots of people liked Castle Rackrent, which was an instant success.
In 1798 her father married his fourth wife. For fifty-one years Maria had a very good friend in her stepmother.
In 1802 their family traveled abroad. First they went to Brussels, then to a part of France. There Maria met a man named Count Edelcrantz. Maria's stepmother wrote in the book Life and Letters, that Maria loved him very much. They came back home to Ireland in 1803 when the war began again, and Maria started writing again. Her father helped her with her writing, and corrected her books a lot. Maria published Castle Rackrent secretly.
Maria Edgeworth helped Irish peasantry very much. She was short, and is said to be cheerful and lively. After she was ill for a few years she died at Edgeworthstone, in the arms of her stepmother, in 1849.
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Other
   | Biography on Revolutionary Players website - A Portrait of Maria Edgeworth |
| | texts by Maria Edgeworth - Browse By Author: E - Project Gutenberg |
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