Leonora (Maria Edgeworth)
Encyclopedia
Leonora is a novel written by Maria Edgeworth
and published in 1806
.
Although Edgeworth is known for having her novels (Castle Rackrent
, The Absentee
) address issues of nationalism
in an Anglo-Irish context, Leonora instead privileges English manners over French ones. The plot of the novel centers on the newly-married Leonora and her decision to bring back to England a woman who had been exiled to France. The woman, Olivia, is known as a "coquette," and her controversial behavior with regard to her marriage had driven her to France, where she cultivated an aristocratic, "French" sensibility that exists apart from conventional morality
.
The novel is written in an epistolary style
, which means all of the action is mediated through personal letters and the letter-writers' points-of-view. By having the main characters tell the story through their own perspectives, the reader gets to read full articulations of competing sensibilities and philosophies, although the narrative clearly prefers Leonora's prudent reserve over Olivia's extravagant emotional displays.
Indeed, this novel can be read as a critique of Sensibility
, a behavioral phenomenon that tries to correlate a person's emotional sensitivity with her elevated moral sentiments. Olivia, a self-professed woman of Sensibility, often makes dramatic displays of feeling
that are described by others as "theatrical," or contrived, and in her personal correspondence with her French friend, Gabrielle, Olivia makes grand claims about sentiment and love that, conveniently, justify her insatiable need for attention, particularly male attention. While a conventional reading of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
dismisses the heroine Marianne's Sensibility as romantic teenage folly, Edgeworth's novel Leonora emphasizes Olivia's behavior as hypocritical
narcissism
.
Maria Edgeworth’s letter to Mrs. Pruxton at Black Castle, Navan, dated 8 June 1806, reads:
“------ Lady Olivia in ‘ Leonora ‘ is now supposed by all Dublin to be a portrait of Lady Asgill [wife of Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet
] and that wherever they go they have to defend me by asserting that I’m not acquainted with the said Lady Asgill. Very luckily I never did meet her at Lady Holt’s where she was intimate. She was educated by Mademoiselle Le Noir who was Miss Bracebridge’s governess and who was more like Mademoiselle Panache than Lady Asgill is - to Olivia - at all events this fancy of the Dublin fine world promotes the sale of the book and I am content. -------.”
Lady Bessborough, writing to Granville Leveson Gower from Paris on Thursday, 23 December 1802, had this to say about Maria Edgeworth:
“…..I was introduc’d by him [François de la Harpe] to the famous Miss Edgeworth and her Brother (Castle Rackrent &c. By the by, I am sure she wrote it all herself, for the brother seems a fool and a coxcomb; she very ugly, but delightful.)”
Maria Edgeworth
Maria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe...
and published in 1806
1806 in literature
-New books:*Harriet Butler - Vensenshon*Catherine Cuthbertson - Santo Sebastiano*Charlotte Dacre - Zofloya*Maria Edgeworth - Leonora*Sophia Frances - Vivonio*William Herbert -The Spanish Outlaw...
.
Although Edgeworth is known for having her novels (Castle Rackrent
Castle Rackrent
Castle Rackrent, a short novel by Maria Edgeworth published in 1800, is often regarded as the first historical novel, the first regional novel in English, the first Anglo-Irish novel, the first Big House novel and the first saga novel....
, The Absentee
The Absentee
The Absentee is a novel by Maria Edgeworth, published in 1812 in Tales of Fashionable Life, that expresses the systemic evils of the absentee landlord class of Anglo-Irish and the desperate condition of the Irish peasantry....
) address issues of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in an Anglo-Irish context, Leonora instead privileges English manners over French ones. The plot of the novel centers on the newly-married Leonora and her decision to bring back to England a woman who had been exiled to France. The woman, Olivia, is known as a "coquette," and her controversial behavior with regard to her marriage had driven her to France, where she cultivated an aristocratic, "French" sensibility that exists apart from conventional morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
.
The novel is written in an epistolary style
Epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use...
, which means all of the action is mediated through personal letters and the letter-writers' points-of-view. By having the main characters tell the story through their own perspectives, the reader gets to read full articulations of competing sensibilities and philosophies, although the narrative clearly prefers Leonora's prudent reserve over Olivia's extravagant emotional displays.
Indeed, this novel can be read as a critique of Sensibility
Sensibility
Sensibility refers to an acute perception of or responsiveness toward something, such as the emotions of another. This concept emerged in eighteenth-century Britain, and was closely associated with studies of sense perception as the means through which knowledge is gathered...
, a behavioral phenomenon that tries to correlate a person's emotional sensitivity with her elevated moral sentiments. Olivia, a self-professed woman of Sensibility, often makes dramatic displays of feeling
Feeling
Feeling is the nominalization of the verb to feel. The word was first used in the English language to describe the physical sensation of touch through either experience or perception. The word is also used to describe experiences, other than the physical sensation of touch, such as "a feeling of...
that are described by others as "theatrical," or contrived, and in her personal correspondence with her French friend, Gabrielle, Olivia makes grand claims about sentiment and love that, conveniently, justify her insatiable need for attention, particularly male attention. While a conventional reading of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility, published in 1811, is a British romance novel by Jane Austen, her first published work under the pseudonym, "A Lady." Jane Austen is considered a pioneer of the romance genre of novels, and for the realism portrayed in her novels, is one the most widely read writers in...
dismisses the heroine Marianne's Sensibility as romantic teenage folly, Edgeworth's novel Leonora emphasizes Olivia's behavior as hypocritical
Hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is the state of pretending to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie....
narcissism
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
.
Maria Edgeworth’s letter to Mrs. Pruxton at Black Castle, Navan, dated 8 June 1806, reads:
“------ Lady Olivia in ‘ Leonora ‘ is now supposed by all Dublin to be a portrait of Lady Asgill [wife of Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet
Sir Charles Asgill, 2nd Baronet
Sir Charles Asgill 2nd Baronet GCH was a career soldier in the British Army. Asgill enjoyed a long military career, eventually rising to the rank of General...
] and that wherever they go they have to defend me by asserting that I’m not acquainted with the said Lady Asgill. Very luckily I never did meet her at Lady Holt’s where she was intimate. She was educated by Mademoiselle Le Noir who was Miss Bracebridge’s governess and who was more like Mademoiselle Panache than Lady Asgill is - to Olivia - at all events this fancy of the Dublin fine world promotes the sale of the book and I am content. -------.”
Lady Bessborough, writing to Granville Leveson Gower from Paris on Thursday, 23 December 1802, had this to say about Maria Edgeworth:
“…..I was introduc’d by him [François de la Harpe] to the famous Miss Edgeworth and her Brother (Castle Rackrent &c. By the by, I am sure she wrote it all herself, for the brother seems a fool and a coxcomb; she very ugly, but delightful.)”