Castle Rackrent

by Maria Edgeworth, George Watson (Editor), Kathryn J. Kirkpatrick (Introduction)

Overview

During the 1790s, with Ireland in political crisis, Maria Edgeworth made a surprisingly rebellious choice: in Castle Rackrent, her first novel, she adopted an Irish Catholic voice to narrate the decline of a family from her own Anglo-Irish class. Castle Rackrent's narrator, Thady Quirk, gives us four generations of Rackrent heirs - Sir Patrick, the dissipated spendthrift; Sir Murtagh, the litigating fiend; Sir Kit, the brutal husband and gambling absentee; and Sir Condy, the lovable and improvident dupe of Thady's own son, Jason. With this satire on Anglo-Irish landlords Edgeworth pioneered the regional novel and inspired Sir Walter Scott's Waverly (1814). She also changed the focus of conflict in Ireland from religion to class and boldly predicted the rise of the Irish Catholic Bourgeoisie. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780192669308
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	10/09/2008
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Kathryn Kirkpatrick is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Appalachian State University.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

A Note on the Text xi

List of Illustrations xii

The Text of Castle Rackrent 1

Preface 5

Castle Rackrent 9

Continuation of the Memoirs of the Rackrent Family 28

Glossary 63

Backgrounds and Contexts 79

Letters 83

To Fanny Robinson, August 1782 83

To Fanny Robinson, September 15, 1783 84

To Miss Sophy Ruxton, January 29, 1800 84

Richard Lovell Edgeworth to David Augustus Beaufort, April 26, 1800 84

To Miss. Mary Sneyd, September 27, 1802 85

To Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, February 19, 1834 85

To Mrs, Stark, September 6, 1834 86

Reception and Reviews 87

The Monthly Review: Ireland, May 1800 87

The British Critic: Novels, November 1800 88

Joseph Cooper Walker: Letter, November 23, 1800 89

Edinburgh Review: [The Irish Novel], October 1830-January 1831 89

W. B. Yeats: [Miss Edgeworth], 1891 91

Biography 93

Lord Byron: [Reading the Edgeworths], January 19, 1821 93

Gentleman's Magazine: Miss Edgeworth, July-December 1849 94

[Maria Edgeworth's Publication Earnings] 96

Edgeworth and Scott 99

Sir Walter Scott: From A Postscript Which Should Have Been a Preface, 1814 99

Maria Edgeworth to the Author of "Waverley," October 23, 1814 100

Sir Walter Scott: From General Preface to the 1829 Edition of Waverley 101

Juvenilia 103

From The Double Disguise 103

Criticism 111

General Studies 113

Walter Allen: [Castle Rackrent's Originality] 113

W. J. McCormack: [The Black Book of Edgeworthstown] 115

Seamus Deane: [The Irish Novel] 117

Brian Hollingworth: [Castle Rackrent's Composition] 125

Jacqueline Belanger: From Educating the Reading Public: British Critical Reception of Maria Edgeworth's Early Irish Writing 128

Marilyn Butler: [Edgeworth's Ireland] 137

Narrative Voices 145

Stanley J. Solomon: From Ironic Perspective in Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent 145

Susan Glover: [Thady and the Editor] 149

Katherine O'Donnell: [Oral Culture] 161

Patriarchy and Paternalism 167

Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace: [Patriarchal Complicity] 167

Mary Jean Corbett: [Patriarchy and the Union] 175

Julie Nash: [Servants and Paternalism] 182

Hiberno-English 193

Joyce Elynn: [Edgeworth's Use of Hiberno-English] 193

Brian Hollingworth: From Maria Edgeworth's Irish Writing 199

Maria Edgeworth: A Chronology 205

Selected Bibliography 209