Dr. Johnson's WomenA&C Black, 2001 M01 1 - 256 pages "I dined yesterday at Mrs Garrick's with Mrs Carter, Miss Hannah More and Miss Fanny Burney. Three such women are not to found; I know not where I could find a fourth, except Mrs Lennox, who is superiour to them all." --Samuel Johnson Dr. Johnson enjoyed the company of clever women. Dr. Johnson's Women explores his relationship with six remarkable and successful female authors, all of whom he knew well: Elizabeth Carter, Hannah More, Charlotte Lennox, Hester Thrale, Fanny Burney and Elizabeth Montagu. It is also an account of the characters and achievements of these women. It is often assumed that women writers in the eighteenth century suffered the same restrictions and obstacles that confronted their Victorian successors. Norma Clarke shows that this was by no means the case. Highlighting the opportunities available to women with talent in the eighteenth century, Dr. Johnson's Women makes clear just how impressive and varied their achievements were. |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... Literary Club ( or The Club ) which had flourished from the mid 1760s and which had included Joshua Reynolds , Edmund Burke , Oliver Goldsmith , Charles James Fox , Edward Gibbon and Richard Brinsley Sheridan among others . But like The ...
... Literary Club ( or The Club ) which had flourished from the mid 1760s and which had included Joshua Reynolds , Edmund Burke , Oliver Goldsmith , Charles James Fox , Edward Gibbon and Richard Brinsley Sheridan among others . But like The ...
Page 3
... literary accomplishments than any other nation in Europe ' . Such a declaration was characteristic of the mid eighteenth century . Johnson , in an essay of 1753 , coined the phrase ' The Age of Authors ' for his own time : ' there never ...
... literary accomplishments than any other nation in Europe ' . Such a declaration was characteristic of the mid eighteenth century . Johnson , in an essay of 1753 , coined the phrase ' The Age of Authors ' for his own time : ' there never ...
Page 4
... literary company and be addressed appropriately - had been earned by an earlier generation . They were not spoken of as rights but they were in use , and they had been achieved by some resolute women.4 Like Boswell , the men of the ...
... literary company and be addressed appropriately - had been earned by an earlier generation . They were not spoken of as rights but they were in use , and they had been achieved by some resolute women.4 Like Boswell , the men of the ...
Page 5
... literary success , first with Evelina and subsequently , in 1782 , with Cecilia . In its playful irony , the diary entry announcing Evelina reveals an unusual preoccupation with public fame : This year was ushered in by a grand and most ...
... literary success , first with Evelina and subsequently , in 1782 , with Cecilia . In its playful irony , the diary entry announcing Evelina reveals an unusual preoccupation with public fame : This year was ushered in by a grand and most ...
Page 8
... literary world , celebrated and made much of by their contemporaries , is easy to overlook . Emulation was considered a virtue in the eighteenth century . Young people were encouraged to model themselves on worthy older figures ...
... literary world , celebrated and made much of by their contemporaries , is easy to overlook . Emulation was considered a virtue in the eighteenth century . Young people were encouraged to model themselves on worthy older figures ...
Contents
1 | |
25 | |
3 Charlotte Lennox | 67 |
4 Hester Thrale and Elizabeth Montagu | 127 |
5 Hannah More | 155 |
6 Fanny Burney | 183 |
7 Women and Writing | 217 |
Notes | 235 |
Bibliography | 247 |
Index | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
adventures Ann Yearsley appeared Arabella aristocratic bluestocking Boswell Boswell's Bristol Burney's Catherine Talbot celebrated Charles Burney Charlotte Lennox Charlotte Ramsay circles Clarissa conversation coquetry critical daughter David Garrick Dr Johnson edition Edward Cave eighteenth century Elizabeth Carter Elizabeth Montagu Epictetus Essay Eva Garrick Evelina fame Fanny Burney father feelings Female Quixote fiction friends friendship genius Gentleman's Magazine Greek Hannah More's Harriot Stuart Hawkins Henrietta Henry Thrale Hester Mulso Hester Thrale honour husband Ibid imagination intellectual judgement knew Lady Laetitia learning letters literary literature lived London Memoirs mind Miss never novel passion patron patronage perhaps person Piozzi play pleasure poem poet praise published Rambler Rasselas readers Reynolds romances Samuel Johnson Samuel Richardson scholar sexual Shakespear Illustrated sister social Streatham success talk thought Thraliana took translation verse virtue volume wanted woman women writers words writing wrote young