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Eighteenth-Century Women's Writing and the 'Scandalous Memoir'

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  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Caroline Breashears

    1. Department of English, St. Lawrence University, Canton, USA

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  • Examines previously under-examined texts

  • Refines our history of this subgenre’s evolution

  • Identifies generic innovations that simultaneously reflect women’s connections and respond to the shifting social topography of the eighteenth century

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
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  2. Introduction: Innovations in the “Scandalous Memoir”

    • Caroline Breashears
    Pages 1-14

  3. The Business of Pleasure: The Life Writings of Lady Vane and Madame de La Touche

    • Caroline Breashears
    Pages 15-43

  4. Novel Memoirs: The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle and Memoirs of a Lady of Quality

    • Caroline Breashears
    Pages 45-63

  5. The Family, Sex, and Scandal: Catherine Jemmat’s Memoirs

    • Caroline Breashears
    Pages 65-84

  6. “My Country is the World!” Margaret Coghlan’s Revolutionary Memoirs

    • Caroline Breashears
    Pages 85-107

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 109-121
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Keywords

About this book

This book contributes to the literary history of eighteenth-century women’s life writings, particularly those labeled “scandalous memoirs.” It examines how the evolution of this subgenre was shaped partially by several innovative memoirs that have received only modest critical attention. Breashears argues that Madame de La Touche’s Apologie and her friend Lady Vane’s Memoirs contributed to the crystallization of this sub-genre at mid-century, and that Lady Vane’s collaboration with Tobias Smollett in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle resulted in a brilliant experiment in the relationship between gender and genre. It demonstrates that the Memoirs of Catherine Jemmat incorporated influential new strategies for self-justification in response to changing kinship priorities, and that Margaret Coghlan’s Memoirs introduced revolutionary themes that created a hybrid: the political scandalous memoir. This book will therefore appeal to scholars interested in life writing, women’s history, genre theory, and eighteenth-century British literature.

Reviews

“This literary history of "scandalous" memoirs will make a significant contribution to our knowledge and understanding of generic innovations in women's memoirs and the interactions between life writing and fiction in the eighteenth century. It will be valuable reading for scholars of gender and genre and students working on women's writing, life writing, and the novel.” (Dr Amy Culley, University of Lincoln, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of English, St. Lawrence University, Canton, USA

    Caroline Breashears

About the author

Caroline Breashears is Associate Professor of English at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, USA. Her publications include essays about novels and eighteenth-century women’s memoirs.

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