Maria Edgeworth

Question 1

When was Maria Edgeworth born?

Answer 1

b. 1768 d.1849

Question 2

What is Edgeworth known for?

Answer 2

Her works in children’s literature

Question 3

What was Edgeworth’s first novel?

Answer 3

Castle Rackrent (1800)

Question 4

What is Castle Rackrent about?

Answer 4

It tells the story of four generations of Rackrent heirs through their steward, Thady Quirk. The heirs are: the dissipated spendthrift Sir Patrick O’Shaughlin, the litigious Sir Murtagh Rackrent, the cruel husband and gambling absentee Sir Kit Rackrent, and the generous but improvident Sir Condy Rackrent. Their sequential mismanagement of the estate is resolved through the machinations—and to the benefit—of the narrator’s astute son, Jason Quirk.

Question 5

What is unique about the narrator in Castle Rackrent?

Answer 5

It is widely regarded as the first British novel to use the device of a narrator who is both unreliable and an observer of, rather than a player in, the actions he chronicles.

Question 6

What did W B Yeats say about Castle Rackrent?

Answer 6

“one of the most inspired chronicles written in English”

Question 7

What famous gothic fiction did Castle Rackrent inspire?

Answer 7

The Waverley Novels by Walter Scott

Question 8

What twentieth century novel has an allusion to Castle Rackrent?

Answer 8

The Great Gatsby (1925)

Question 9

Castle Rackrent is a significant novel for English Literature, why?

Answer 9

Castle Rackrent is sometimes 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.

Question 10

Which novel by Edgeworth did Jane Austen admire greatly?

Answer 10

Belinda (1801)

Question 11

Why was Belinda considered controversial at the time of publication?

Answer 11

It was considered controversial for its depiction of inter-racial marriage. Juba, a black servant married an English maid called Lucy. From the third edition on, Juba was omitted and Lucy married a white servant called James Jackson.

Question 12

Who are the main characters in Belinda?

Answer 12

Belinda Portman, Lady Delacour, Clarence Hervey, who Belinda eventually marries, and Lady Anne Percival.

Question 13

When was Tales of Fashionable Life published?

Answer 13

Between 1809 and 1812.

Question 14

How many volumes did Tales of Fashionable Life run to?

Answer 14

Six volumes.

Question 15

What is the most famous work in the Tales of Fashionable Life?

Answer 15

The Absentee, which focused attention on a great contemporary abuse in Irish society: absentee English landowning.

Question 16

When was Patronage published?

Answer 16

1814.

Question 17

What is Patronage about?

Answer 17

It explores the various types of patronage and the many forms it takes in all strata of English society.

Question 18

What is the novel by E which privileged English manners over French ones?

Answer 18

Leonora (1806)

Question 19

What style is Leonora written in?

Answer 19

Epistolary.

Question 20

Who are the main characters in Leonora?

Answer 20

The newly married Leonora and the ‘coquette’ Olivia, who has been exiled to France because of her unconventional attitudes towards her marriage.

Question 21

When was the Absentee published?

Answer 21

in 1812, in Tales of a Fashionable Life.

Question 22

Who is the protagonist in The Absentee?

Answer 22

Lord Colambre.

Question 23

Who are the main characters in The Absentee?

Answer 23

Lord Colambre and his love Grace Nugent, Lady Dashfort and her daughter Lady Isobel who scheme to separate Grace and Colambre so that Isobel can marr him and Colambre’s parents Lord and Lady Clonbrony.

Question 24

What was E’s first work?

Answer 24

The Parent’s Assistant (1796)

Question 25

What inspired The Parent’s Assistant?

Answer 25

The time E spent with her 21 siblings. The children in this book are considered the first real children in English literature after Shakespeare.

Question 26

When was her novel Ormond published?

Answer 26

1817.

Question 27

What is Ormond about?

Answer 27

It tells the story of Harry Ormond, a hero who rises from poverty to wealth. Set both in Ireland and France, the novel uses different places to represent different paths that Ormond might take and different political ideologies.

Question 28

What work by Edmund Burke is alluded to in Ormond?

Answer 28

Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)