Eliza Haywood was one of the most popular and prolific writers of the early eighteenth century, and in the 1720s, her output alone accounted for a significant percentage of all writing being published in English by women. Until the late twentieth century, her large and influential body of work was largely ignored by critics and excluded from the current eighteenth-century cannon. Haywoods body of work is immense, and much remains to be done to fully illuminate her involvement in early modern literature. My study focuses on Haywoods very early career, 1719 1726. My goal is to examine how Haywood achieved her early success in an industry that was relatively inhospitable to women, and what reaction her texts garnered from the marketplace, and the reading public.<p>Part One: The Marketplace, focuses on the construction of Haywoods early career in the context of early eighteenth-century print culture. I investigate the cultural reception and influence of Haywood as author within her social milieu. Haywoods writing emerged from a period when women were beginning to write in large numbers; Haywood was one of the first, the most popular, and the most prolific women writers of the eighteenth century. She achieved a high profile presence in the marketplace and became an example that womens writing could be a lucrative product.<p>Part Two: The Works explores the subject material of Haywoods popular early novels; I argue these works not only function as entertaining amatory fiction, but also contain meritorious social criticism and even possess a didactic tone previously exclusively associated with her later work. While her writing often contests the status quo, it also sometimes replicates it. She simultaneously affirms yet challenges mainstream culture.<p>Overall, this dissertation aims to explore and demystify the complexities, tensions, and contradictions involved in Haywoods writing, and Haywood as a cultural figure. We can only achieve a full understanding of the cultural influence of her texts and career by considering the content of her work alongside the marketability she achieved. Additionally, by exploring Haywoods work during her early career, I hope to contribute to a broader, more accurate understanding of Haywoods body of work as a whole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-08262008-075723 |
| Date | 26 August 2008 |
| Creators | Luhning, Holly Rae |
| Contributors | McCannon, John, Stephanson, Raymond, James-Cavan, Kathleen, Matheson, Terry, Miller, Dianne, Grundy, Isobel, Vargo, Lisa |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| 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 | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-08262008-075723/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds