English Women of Letters 2 Volume Set

The Irish novelist Julia Kavanagh (1824–1877) published English Women of Letters in two volumes in 1862. The work, which formed a pair with French Women of Letters (1862), traces the contribution of English women writers, from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth, to the development and formation of the modern novel. These volumes contain biographical sketches of various female authors followed by evaluations of their most important works. Volume 1 begins with Aphra Behn (1640–1840) and Oroonoko and finishes with Ann Radcliff (1764–1823), and four of her gothic novels. Volume 2 analyses the work of another five writers, from Elizabeth Inchbald (1753–1821) and Jane Austen (1775–1817) to Lady Morgan (c.1776–1859). This important work brought to attention in the Victorian mind the importance of these writers. It has served for many generations of English literature students as a biographical companion to women writers.