Neglected by traditional literary histories or misrepresented in gender-specific criticism, Eliza Haywood is properly a novelist whose innovations can be seen in the works of Defoe and Richardson. This thesis examines selected novels by the London-based Haywood (1693?-1756) in light of their contributions to the novel form. It begins by considering her romance novellas as adaptations of the popular scandal novels of Delariviere Manley. Haywood's early fiction combines the concerns of amatory fiction with the political expediencies of satire. Over the course of her career, Haywood's early romance novellas expanded to become conduct novels. In their endorsement of a prudent conjugal happiness over erotic fulfilment, her later works exemplify the changing proprieties at the heart of the eighteenth-century British novel. The argument of this thesis is the contention that Haywood's prose fiction provides a fresh and significant perspective upon a pivotal period in eighteenth-century British fiction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22633 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Walsh, Jo Ann |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of English.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001461903, proquestno: MM05433, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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