The Delicate Distress (Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women) [Paperback]

Elizabeth Griffith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1997 | Series: Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women

" The Delicate Distress (1769) focuses on the problems women encounter after marriage-the issue of financial independence for wives, the consequences of interfaith relationships, and the promiscuity of their husbands. At the story's center is the deep distress of Emily Woodville, a virtuous young newlywed who suspects her husband of infidelity with a French marchioness from his past. Against a backdrop of rural England and Paris of the ancien régime, Elizabeth Griffith takes the epistolary novel of sensibility in the tradition of Samuel Richardson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau and re-imagines it from a feminist perspective that centers on strong, intelligent, and virtuous women. Two sisters exchange letters about urgent ethical questions concerning love, marriage, morality, art, the duties of wives and husbands, and passion versus reason, while two men correspond about the same subjects. This was one of the earliest novels to explore the psychology of characters who observe and reflect but engage in no grand public actions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A valuable addition to the range of texts currently available." -- British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

"An excellent scholarly introduction providing information on the place of this novel in literary history and on Griffith's background as a professional actress, translator of French novels, and playwright, as well as a novelist of sensibility.... Access to such 18th-century novels written by women is crucial to developing an understanding of literary history and of the novel as a genre." -- Choice

"Fill(s) a genuine need among scholars and students interested in early British women novelists." -- Kritikon Litterarum

"A novel about a utopian community founded and run by wealthy women who had previously been victimized in various ways." -- Kritikon Litterarum

From the Inside Flap

"An excellent scholarly introduction providing information on the place of this novel in literary history and on Griffith's background as a professional actress, translator of French novels, and playwright, as well as a novelist of sensibility. . . . Access to such 18th-century novels written by women is crucial to developing an understanding of literary history and of the novel as a genre."--Choice --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky; New edition edition (April 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813109256
• ISBN-13: 978-0813109251
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,362,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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