Castle Rackrent and Ennui (Penguin Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Maria Edgeworth (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: September 25, 2007

Thady Quirk, devoted steward to the decaying estate of the Rackrent family, narrates a riotous story of four generations of a dying dynasty in Castle Rackrent (1800). Thady will defend his masters to the end, but eventually his naivety and blind loyalty cause him to ignore the warning signs as the family's excesses lead them to ruin. This volume also includes Ennui, the entertaining confessions' of the Earl of Glenthorn, a bored, spoiled aristocrat. Desperate to be free from the demon of ennui', Glenthorn's quest for happiness takes him through violence and revolution, and leads to intriguing twists of fate. Both novels offer a darkly comic and satirical expose of the Irish class system, and a portrait of a nation in turmoil.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MARIA EDGEWORTH was born in 1768. Her first novel, Castle Rackrent (1800) was also her first Irish tale. The next such tale was Ennui (1809), after which came The Absentee, which began life as an unstaged play and was then published (in prose) in Tales of Fashionable Life (1812), as were several of her other stories. They were followed in 1817 by the last of her Irish tales, Ormond. Maria Edgeworth died in 1849. Edited with an introduction and notes by Marilyn Butler

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140433201
• ISBN-13: 978-0140433203
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,823 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly wonderful, July 5, 2009

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Integrity Reviews (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castle Rackrent And Ennui (Paperback)

Maria Edgeworth was a pioneer Irish writer who was justifiably popular about 200 years ago, and whose work continues to be read with great pleasure to this day. Ennui is a masterpiece of humorous satire, brilliantly phrased in the way only great literature can be. To read Edgeworth is to find a "new" author of the caliber of Fielding, Dickens, Hardy, or Scott. Her style is more entertaining and pithy than any of these. The topics she writes about are of universal interest and lack nothing in the way of contemporary applicability. Human nature quite obviously has not changed in two centuries, and is unlikely to change in two more - when her books are likely still to be read. Give Edgeworth's work a try, you are almost certain to have a wonderful experience.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great novel, September 5, 2010

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MJHDO10 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Castle Rackrent and Ennui (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Thank you for the quick shipment! The novel is in great condition and will be a nice edition to my library.

18 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bedtime reading., August 18, 2000

By 

Sailoil - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castle Rackrent and Ennui (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

Edgeworth wrote about the protestant upper class in Ireland around the turn of the 18th/19th century. At the time, especially in Rackrent, her most famous work, she wrote of the machinations of bad landlords and how their families died out. It is interesting that she was writing about the demise of these bad landlords, suggesting that things had improved in this more enlightened age, at a time when the Irish Peasant was worse off than ever. Edgeworth wrote of a society that was on the brink of extinction, but she was not aware of this, since she was part of that society. This book is noteworthy for what it is not. It is not Irish literature. It is poor british literature and would have no merit at all if it did not serve to contrast with the high quality scribblings of the uneducated and unwashed downtrodden masses. Like the protestant ruling class it is sparse, stilted and haughty. Not a fun read.