Castle Rackrent International Student Edition Norton Critical Editions

The only edition of this 1800 novel—widely regarded as the first historical novel—to include supporting materials on both the importance of Maria Edgeworth as a writer and the influence of contemporary history on this novel. Castle Rackrent’s publication in 1800 signaled many firsts: the first historical novel, the first regional novel in English, the first “big house” novel, the first Anglo-Irish novel, and the first novel with a narrator who is neither reliable nor part of the action. This Norton Critical Edition is based on the Baldwin & Cradock edition that appeared as part of an eighteen-volume collected edition titled Tales and Novels of Maria Edgeworth (1832–33). It is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. Ryan Twomey focuses the volume’s “Backgrounds and Contexts” on Edgeworth’s importance as a writer, the influence of contemporary historical events on her writing (most importantly, the Act of Union of 1800, which united Ireland and Great Britain), and Castle Rackrent’s impact on the development of the novel. These include a selection of Edgeworth’s letters; five major contemporary reviews; biographical pieces; Sir Walter Scott on Edgeworth and her response to him; and excerpts from Edgeworth’s juvenilia, The Double Disguise. “Criticism” is thematically organized to give readers a clear sense of Castle Rackrent’s major themes: Irish writing and specifically the Irish novel, narrative voices, patriarchy and paternalism, and Edgeworth’s Hiberno-English writing. Contributors include Seamus Deane, Marilyn Butler, Katherine O’Donnell, Julia Nash, Joyce Flynn, and Brian Hollingworth, among others. A chronology of Edgeworth’s life and work and a selected bibliography are also included.

The Norton Critical Edition of Pride and Prejudice has been revised to reflect the most current scholarly approaches to Austen’s most widely read novel. The text is that of the 1813 first edition, accompanied by revised and expanded explanatory annotations. This Norton Critical Edition also includes: · Biographical portraits of Austen by members of her family and, new to the Fourth Edition, those by Jon Spence (Becoming Jane Austen) and Paula Byrne (The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things). · Fourteen critical essays, eleven of them new to the Fourth Edition, reflecting the finest current scholarship. Contributors include Janet Todd, Andrew Elfenbein, Felicia Bonaparte, and Tiffany Potter, among others. · “Writers on Austen”—a new section of brief comments by Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, and others. · A Chronology and revised and expanded Selected Bibliography.

On the eve of his coming of age, a young Lord begins to see the truth of his parents' lives: his mother cannot buy her way into society no matter how hard he tries, and his father is being ruined by her continued attempts. The young Lord then travels to his home in Ireland, encountering adventure on the way, and discovers that the native residents are being exploited in his father's absence.

The only edition of this 1800 novel--widely regarded as the first historical novel--to include supporting materials on both the importance of Maria Edgeworth as a writer and the influence of contemporary history on this novel.

Reproduction of the original: Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

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