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Literary Criticism English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Comet of the Enlightenment

by (author) Isobel Grundy

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2001
Category
English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780198187653
    Publish Date
    Mar 2001
    List Price
    $105.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780198112891
    Publish Date
    Mar 1999
    List Price
    $78.95

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Description

This book is the first to look at Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's achievement as a vital figure in the women's literary tradition. Robert Halsband's book on her life, the sixth this century and published in 1956, was the first to apply scholarly techniques to establishing the facts. The inaccurate accounts given before Halsband testify to Lady Mary's compelling interest as a woman who wrote, travelled, campaigned publicly for medical advance, gossiped, and was involved in high-profile literary quarrels. Knowledge of her life has made considerable gains since Halsband, as understanding of the issues involved in trying to move between the roles of proper lady and woman writer has increased enormously. This life fruitfully exploits the tension between literary history and feminist reading. Isobel Grundy highlights Montagu's adolescent longing for literary fame, her growing understanding of the implications of this for gender and class imperatives, the frustrations and concessions involved in her collaborations with male writers, the punitive responses of society, the gaps at every stage of her life between her ascertainable circumstances and her construction of herself in letters and other writings. The book situates those writings in relation to her own theorizing and her very wide reading in women's texts as well as men's. Finally, it looks at a range of contemporary and near-contemporary responses.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Isobel Grundy is at University of Alberta.

Editorial Reviews

'This is an accomplished and scholarly biography of a compelling individual. It is also a literary life that throws much light on the Augustan world of letters. Furthermore, this study carries conviction in part because Isobel Grundy does not exaggerate the importance of her subject ... fine study ... a wealth of information and reflection, and a careful piecing-together of a fascinating life.' Jeremy Black, THES 25/2/00

'Review from previous edition This is an accomplished and scholarly biography of a compelling individual. It is also a literary life that throws much light on the Augustan world of letters. Furthermore, this study carries conviction in part because Isobel Grundy does not exaggerate the importance of her subject ... fine study ... a wealth of information and reflection, and a careful piecing-together of a fascinating life.' Jeremy Black, THES 25/2/00

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