Memoirs of Emma Courtney (World's Classics) [Paperback]

Mary Hays (Author), Eleanor Ty (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 28, 1996 | Series: World's Classics

Memoirs of Emma Courtney is one of the most articulate and detailed expressions of the yearnings and frustrations of a woman living in late eighteenth-century English society. It questions marital arrangements and courtship rituals by depicting a woman who actively pursues the man she loves. In this first fully annotated edition of a key sentimental novel, Hays reveals the lamentable gap between "what women are" and "what women ought to be" by exploring the links between sexaulity and desire, and economic and social freedom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A very informative introduction and meticulously edited text."--Gregory Maertz, St. John's University

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

The Broadview Literary Texts series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, though lesser-known literature. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019282306X
• ISBN-13: 978-0192823069
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,986,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Different, but not great., July 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Memoirs of Emma Courtney (World's Classics) (Paperback)

I usually love reading books written pre-20th Century, as this one was (1796) but I didn't really enjoy this one as much as I expected. Even though it caused a mild scandal when first published, it is (naturally) rather tame by today's standards. The heroine's great crime is to declare her love for a man before he declares his. How shocking!

The book is written as a series of letters to her beloved's son telling him about her great crime, in order to save him from making the same mistakes. I did admire the way she examined and analyzed her feelings, and how she could stand back and see how her actions didn't always coincide with her intentions. She just loved this guy passionately and she couldn't talk herself out of it, no matter how hard she tried. It got to be rather tedious though, after a while, and I wished she could just get over it and get on with her life.

All the melodrama in the book comes in the last thirty pages, which is such a contrast to the mild, slow-paced rest of the book. It seemed very foreign to the first part, like the author felt she ought to throw in some action at long last. All in all, it was okay, but not great.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great political novels of the 1790s, April 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Memoirs of Emma Courtney (Broadview Literary Texts) (Paperback)

Any fan of Mary Wollstonecraft should turn next to books like this one. Hays's novel is part of the first wave of responses to *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman* (1792) and shows that Wollstonecraft could produce thoughtful responses from British radicals that balance the unthinking ones from conservatives. With Amelia Opie's *Adeline Mowbray*, this novel tells us much about early British feminism and its interest in the novel. Broadview's texts, furthermore, are excellent and provide wonderful supporting materials; this one is no exception.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great political novels of the 1790s, April 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Memoirs of Emma Courtney (Broadview Literary Texts) (Paperback)

Any fan of Mary Wollstonecraft should turn next to books like this one. Hays's novel is part of the first wave of responses to *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman* (1792) and shows that Wollstonecraft could produce thoughtful responses from British radicals that balance the unthinking ones from conservatives. With Amelia Opie's *Adeline Mowbray*, this novel tells us much about early British feminism and its interest in the novel.