Maria Edgeworth, Ennui

Sharon Jude Murphy (St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra)

Ed. by Ian Campbell Ross, Trinity College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1809

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Ennui was published as part of the 1809 series of Maria Edgeworth's Tales of Fashionable Life, and a leading reviewer of the day, Francis Jeffrey, declared it to be probably “the best and the most entertaining” of the collection: “The Irish characters are inimitable; – not the caricatures of modern playwrights – but drawn with a spirit, and delicacy, and a precision, to which we do not know if there be any parallel among national delineations” (Edinburgh Review, vol. xiv [1809], 379). Jeffrey's review of Ennui was largely echoed by other readers and critics; the work went in a fourth edition by 1813 and, with The Absentee (1812), helped to establish Edgeworth's reputation as the …

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1400 words

Citation: Murphy, Sharon Jude. "Ennui". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21656, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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