Print Price: $13.95

Format:
Paperback
272 pp.
129 mm x 196 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199555406

Publication date:
June 2009

Imprint: OUP UK

Memoirs of Emma Courtney

Mary Hays
Edited with an introduction by Eleanor Ty

Series : Oxford World's Classics

First published in the turbulent decade following the French Revolution, Memoirs of Emma Courtney is based on Mary Hays' own passionate struggle with romance and Enlightenment philosophy. A feminist and ardent disciple of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hays reveals the lamentable gap between `what women are' and `what woment ought to be'.

The novel is one of the most articulate and detailed expressions of the yearnings and frustrations of a woman living in late eighteenth-century English society. It questions marital arrangements and courtship rituals by depicting a woman who actively pursues the man she loves. The novel explores the links between sexuality, desire, and economic and social freedom, suggesting the need for improvement in the laws of society which `have enslaved, enervated, and degraded woman'.

Readership : Suitable for students of eighteenth-century English Literature and Women's Studies.

Reviews

• "the editions deserve great credit for the enthusiasm of their approach ... The introductions by eminent scholars put the thoughts of the author and the history of the time into clear perspective. Oxford should be given credit for making the classics accessible for all rather than just crib notes for students."
  
  --Jonathan Copeland, Lincolnshire Echo 03/09/1996