Book contents
- Mary Wollstonecraft in Context
- Mary Wollstonecraft in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Frontispiece
- Chronology
- Part I Life and Works
- Part II Critical Fortunes
- Part III Historical and Cultural Contexts
- The French Revolution Debate
- The Rights of Woman Debate
- Philosophical Frameworks
- Legal and Social Culture
- Literature
- Chapter 30 Sentimentalism and Sensibility
- Chapter 31 English Jacobin Novels
- Chapter 32 Anti-Jacobin Novels
- Chapter 33 Children’s Literature
- Chapter 34 Gothic Literature
- Chapter 35 Travel Writing
- Chapter 36 History Writing
- Chapter 37 Periodicals
- Chapter 38 Translations
- Suggested Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 30 - Sentimentalism and Sensibility
from Literature
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2020
- Mary Wollstonecraft in Context
- Mary Wollstonecraft in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Frontispiece
- Chronology
- Part I Life and Works
- Part II Critical Fortunes
- Part III Historical and Cultural Contexts
- The French Revolution Debate
- The Rights of Woman Debate
- Philosophical Frameworks
- Legal and Social Culture
- Literature
- Chapter 30 Sentimentalism and Sensibility
- Chapter 31 English Jacobin Novels
- Chapter 32 Anti-Jacobin Novels
- Chapter 33 Children’s Literature
- Chapter 34 Gothic Literature
- Chapter 35 Travel Writing
- Chapter 36 History Writing
- Chapter 37 Periodicals
- Chapter 38 Translations
- Suggested Further Reading
- Index
Summary
In a book review from December 1789 of the novel Heerfort and Clara, Mary Wollstonecraft dismisses the work as yet another example of the “sentimental, pumped up nonsense” that circulates in the current literary marketplace.1 The comment is not an isolated jab, but the product of considerable relevant experience. Before authoring her now-famous Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft wrote book reviews for Joseph Johnson’s progressive journal the Analytical Review. And, as Mitzi Myers points out, “although Wollstonecraft reviewed books about children, education, women, travel, and even boxing, fiction – sentimental fiction in particular – seems to have been her niche.”2
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- Information
- Mary Wollstonecraft in Context , pp. 257 - 263Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020