Table Of ContentP A L G R A V E STUDIES IN LIFE WRITING
EDITED BY BRENDA AYRES
BIOGRAPHICAL
MISREPRESENTATIONS OF
BRITISH WOMEN WRITERS
A Hall of Mirrors and the Long Nineteenth Century
SERIES EDITORS: CLARE BRANT AND MAX SAUNDERS
Palgrave Studies in Life Writing
Series Editors
Clare Brant
Department of English
King’s College London
London, United Kingdom
Max Saunders
Department of English
King’s College London
London, United Kingdom
This series features books that address key concepts and subjects, with an
emphasis on new and emergent approaches. It offers specialist but
accessible studies of contemporary and historical topics, with a focus on
connecting lifewriting tothemes withcross-disciplinary appeal. The series
aimstobetheplacetogotoforcurrentandfreshresearchforscholarsand
students looking for clear and original discussion of specific subjects and
forms;itisalsoahomeforexperimentalapproachesthattakecreativerisks
with potent materials.
The term “Life Writing” is taken broadly so as to reflect the academic,
public and global reach of life writing, and to continue its democratic
tradition. The series seeks contributions that address contexts beyond
traditional territories – for instance, in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. It
also aims to publish volumes addressing topics of general interest (such as
food, drink, sport, gardening) with which life writing scholarship can
engage in lively and original ways, as well as to further the political
engagement of life writing especially in relation to human rights,
migration, trauma and repression, sadly also persistently topical themes.
The series looks for work that challenges and extends how life writing is
understood and practised, especially in a world of rapidly changing digital
media; that deepens and diversifies knowledge and perspectives on the
subject,andwhichcontributestotheintellectualexcitementandtheworld
relevance of life writing.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/15200
Brenda Ayres
Editor
Biographical
Misrepresentations
of British Women
Writers
A Hall of Mirrors and the Long Nineteenth Century
Editor
Brenda Ayres
Department ofEnglish
Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA, USA
PalgraveStudies in LifeWriting
ISBN978-3-319-56749-5 ISBN978-3-319-56750-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56750-1
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P
REFACE
“College” isan old French word dating to the fourteenth centurywhen it
was used to denote a body of apostles gathered in one accord to serve
Christ. Its derivative, “collegiality,” was the elusive hope for the Church
Militant. Obviously, the term has evolved and perhaps devolved into sec-
ular use and has lost much of the prestige it once enjoyed, now that
universities subsume colleges, award advanced degrees, and offer greater
opportunity for research. The term “collegiality” is rarely heard anymore,
andevenrarerisanactualbodyofpeoplewhogatherinoneaccordabout
anything. Nevertheless, collegiality is something I have experienced and
have come to treasure from working with the insightful and generous
contributorswhowrotechaptersforthisvolume.Theystrovetosqueezein
their research and writing amid busy university schedules and without
remuneration.Weacademicsdosuchthingsasalaboroflove.Thepursuit
of knowledge and intellectual curiosity drive us. To pursue it alongside a
group of women who have shared the same vision for a project and have
sharedanappreciationforthelaborthatpreemptedtoourownwork(such
as the women writers of the long nineteenth century as well as the critics,
scholars, and biographers), has proven to be a bonding experience that is
incredibly invigorating and rewarding. It is collegiality at its best.
This book was not my idea. In March 2015 I sent one of my
WollstonecraftmanuscriptstoRyanJenkins,whowasaneditoratPalgrave.
Itspremisechallengedthemyriadanddisparatebibliographicalportraitsof
MaryWollstonecraft.Ryanthoughttheideawasmarketablebutsuggested
that I might broaden the treatment beyond Wollstonecraft. He asked me
insteadtoconsideranumberofEnglishwomenwriterswhoseimageshave
v
vi PREFACE
also been deflected. Since I was then trying to get five books on
Wollstonecraft published at that time, there was no way that I could do
what he suggested by myself. So I put out a call for papers through the
VictoriaListServ,thatlovelyelectronicforumthatisasusefulandpleasant
asateaparty.SponsoredbytheUniversityofIndiana,itallowsloversofthe
long nineteenth century to exchange research ideas. In short, it promotes
collegiality among us Victorianists.
Ireceivedagoodresponse,sogood,thatIcouldnotaccepteveryone’s
abstract, especially all five who wanted to write on the Brontës or all four
interested in George Eliot. I wanted a good mix of well-seasoned scholars
as well as a few professors who were just launching their careers, and as
subjects I wanted a good mix of women writers from the long nineteenth
century.Icouldnothavewishedforamorecollegialgroupofco-laborers,
whowereenthusiasticaboutthesubjectandproducedoutstandingarticles,
and offered them cheerfully and generously. They were even collegial
during the editing process. But I am not just thankful for their contribu-
tions;IamthankfulthatIgottoknowthemandgottolearnfromthem.It
is amazing to me that this book had a single thesis, but that every article
had a unique twist in developing the thesis. It just shows that fourteen
headsarebetterthanone.Thisbookisthirteentimesbetterthanitwould
be had I written it myself. It is as that wise Wallace Stevensproved: There
are “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
ThusIthankRyanfortheideaandgrantingmeacontractwithPalgrave
Macmillantopursueit.Igiveaheart-feltthankstothecontributorsofthis
volume: Magdalena Nerio, Sarah Faulkner, Julie Donovan, Katherine
Montwieler, Helen Luu, Deborah Logan, Elizabeth Way, Anna
Koustinoudi, SarahE.Maier,TaryneJadeTaylor,NancyMarck Cantwell,
and Constance Fulmer. To them I say, “Thank you for your collegiality.
Thankyouforthepassionyouhaveforwomen’sliterature.Thankyoufor
your devotion to searching for beauty and truth.”
Fostering collegiality that will endure from generation to generation is
oneofmydearestgoals asaprofessor,andIhavebeen allowedtodothat
at Liberty University with students who helped me with the editing,
especially with my introduction and chapter. Jesus gave us some good
advicewhenHeasked,“Howcanyousaytoyourbrother[andsister],‘Let
metakethe speckoutofyoureye,’whenyouyourselffailtoseetheplank
in your own eye?’” (Luke 6.42). We editors have the same tendency, so I
was grateful that these students offered their own set of eyes and editing
gifts to show me my planks. My thanks go to James Bojaciuk, Macael
PREFACE vii
Bowles, Micailyn Geyer, Christiana Johnson, Kelly Kramer, Nychele
Kemper, Rebecca Pinkard, and Hannah Rainous. It is my hope that the
experience will further their own careers in research, writing, and editing.
Those of us who teach English literature may not always feel blessed as
wetrudgethroughthemiryclayofgradingpapers,butwearetrulyblessed
tobe in aprofession that pays ustolove and teach the writingofsomany
brilliant and talented men and women that made their mark on the page.
Therefore, in addition to all of the people listed above who have enriched
my life with their collegiality, my last declaration of gratitude goes to the
brave women who battled through a sticky and precarious web of gender
restrictions in order for women of my generation and those to come to
enjoythefreedomthatweknowtoday,beginningwithLadyMaryWortley
MontaguandMaryWollstonecraftandcontinuingwithEdithSimcoxand
thereafter.Itismyhopethatregardlessofhowtheyhavebeenportrayedin
biographies,BiographicalMisrepresentationsstandsasamonumenttotheir
pluck and tenacity.
Lynchburg, USA Brenda Ayres
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction; or‚ What You Will 1
Brenda Ayres
2 Genteel Appropriations of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
(1689–1762):LadyLouisaStuart,WilliamMoyThomas,
and the Rigors of Victorian Memoir 17
Magdalena Nerio
3 A Vindication of the Woman Known as Mary
Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) 37
Brenda Ayres
4 Artifact or Artifice? The Epistolary Image of Mary Hays
(1759–1843) 57
Sarah Faulkner
5 “So Irish; So Modish, So Mixtish, So Wild” Sydney
Owenson (Lady Morgan; 1783–1859) & The Makings
of a Life 75
Julie Donovan
ix
x CONTENTS
6 Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838): Whose Poetess? 93
Katherine Montwieler
7 The After-lives of Felicia Hemans (1793–1835):
Biographical Misconstructions 111
Helen Luu
8 Harriet Martineau (1802–1876): Autobiography,
Biography, and Literary Legacies 129
Deborah A. Logan
9 “Stuck Through with a Pin, and Beautifully Preserved”:
Curating the Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(1806–1861) 149
Elizabeth Way
10 Caroline Norton (1808–1877): The Injured Wife,
Scandal, and the Politics of Feminist Memory 169
Gail Savage
11 The Biographer as Biographee: Elizabeth Gaskell
(1810–1865) 189
Anna Koustinoudi
12 Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855): (Un)Masked Author to
Mythic Woman 211
Sarah E. Maier
13 An Unconventional and Contradictory Life: Lady
Florence Dixie (1855–1905) 231
Taryne Jade Taylor
