<p>Intended for all readers of biography--lifelong or occasional, critical or casual--this original book by an award-winning biographer examines biography from many angles, and gives a tour of the decisions its writers make and some of the implications of those choices. Its aim is to increase the pleasure of reading biographies, to add new, enjoyable dimensions even as it increases readers' insights into the art of writing them. The book concludes with observations about the form's future directions and challenges.</p>

Reflections on Biography

Backscheider, Paula R.

Literature & Fiction

Oxford University Press

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

<p>Throughout one of English history's most tumultuous periods, Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) took part in and reported on nearly every major political, religious, and social controversy. This widely acclaimed biography offers a fascinating account of Defoe's remarkable life. Paula Backscheider reveals new information about Defoe's secret career as a double agent, his daring business ventures, his dangerous pen―and his cat-and-mouse games with those who sought to control it. This is the definitive biography of one of eighteenth-century England's most influential figures―and one of the most prolific and widely read authors of all time</p>

Daniel Defoe: His Life

Johns Hopkins University Press

Co-Winner, James Russell Lowell Prize, Modern Language Association This major study offers a broad view of the writing and careers of eighteenth-century women poets, casting new light on the ways in which poetry was read and enjoyed, on changing poetic tastes in British culture, and on the development of many major poetic genres and traditions. Rather than presenting a chronological survey, Paula R. Backscheider explores the forms in which women wrote and the uses to which they put those forms. Considering more than forty women in relation to canonical male writers of the same era, she concludes that women wrote in all of the genres that men did but often adapted, revised, and even created new poetic kinds from traditional forms.Backscheider demonstrates that knowledge of these women's poetry is necessary for an accurate and nuanced literary history. Within chapters on important canonical and popular verse forms, she gives particular attention to such topics as women's use of religious poetry to express candid ideas about patriarchy and rape; the continuing evolution and important role of the supposedly antiquarian genre of the friendship poetry; same-sex desire in elegy by women as well as by men; and the status of Charlotte Smith as a key figure of the long eighteenth century, not only as a Romantic-era poet.

Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre

Community & Culture

This major study offers a broad view of the writing and careers of eighteenth-century women poets, casting new light on the ways in which poetry was read and enjoyed, on changing poetic tastes in British culture, and on the development of many major poetic genres and traditions. Rather than presenting a chronological survey, Paula R. Backscheider explores the forms in which women wrote and the uses to which they put those forms. Considering more than forty women in relation to canonical male writers of the same era, she concludes that women wrote in all of the genres that men did but often adapted, revised, and even created new poetic kinds from traditional forms.Backscheider demonstrates that knowledge of these women's poetry is necessary for an accurate and nuanced literary history. Within chapters on important canonical and popular verse forms, she gives particular attention to such topics as women's use of religious poetry to express candid ideas about patriarchy and rape; the continuing evolution and important role of the supposedly antiquarian genre of the friendship poetry; same-sex desire in elegy by women as well as by men; and the status of Charlotte Smith as a key figure of the long eighteenth century, not only as a Romantic-era poet.

Moll Flanders: The Making of a Criminal Mind (Twayne's Masterwork Studies)

History & Criticism

Twayne Pub

Lexington, KY, U.P. of Kentucky, 1986. 1st Edition, 1st Printing. VG+/VG-. 299pgs(Index), REVIEW COPY with review slip laid in. DJ slightly faded along front spine edge area, top page ends very slightly dirtied, o.w.. clean, tight and bright. No ink names, tears, chips, etc. Rest of book and DJ in Fine condition. ISBN 0813115965 WE PACK WITH GREAT CARE, 99% OF OUR BOOKS ARE SHIPPED IN CUSTOM BOXES!

Daniel Defoe: Ambition & Innovation

Univ Pr of Kentucky

" Written for the audience it portrays, The Excursion introduces the heroine, Maria Villiers, to London's ""gentle"" society and its glittering pastimes. For her novel's overarching plot structure, Brooke drew upon the English courtship novel in the tradition of Eliza Haywood, Henry Fielding, and Frances Burney. But instead of concentrating on Maria's romantic adventures, she experiments with unusual treatments of subplots and unconventional characters. This is one of the few portraits of a woman with literary ambitions by an early woman writer, and Brooke's wry narrative voice foreshadows that of Jane Austen. The editors' introduction places the novel firmly in the tradition of the English novel, provides a fresh biography of Brooke, and brings together the most important eighteenth- and twentieth-century criticism of Brooke's work. Frances Brooke (1724-1789), journalist, translator, playwright, novelist, and even co-manager of a theater, was described as ""perhaps the first female novel-writer who attained a perfect purity and polist of style."" Today Brooke is known primarily for The History of Emily Montague ,one of the earliest novels about Canada, where she lived for a number of years. But it is her third novel, The Excursion, that is an important example of the fashionable and popular English novels of the late 1770s. Paula R. Backscheider is Pepperell-Philpott Eminent Scholar in English at Auburn University and the author of numerous books, including Spectacular Politics: Theatrical Power and Mass Culture in Early Modern England. Hope D. Cotton is a doctoral student in English at Auburn University.

The Excursion (Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women)

Brooke, Frances

Cotton, Hope D.

Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel is the first in-depth study of Rowe’s prose fiction. A four-volume collection of her work was a bestseller for a hundred years after its publication, but today Rowe is a largely unrecognized figure in the history of the novel. Although her poetry was appreciated by poets such as Alexander Pope for its metrical craftsmanship, beauty, and imagery, by the time of her death in 1737 she was better known for her fiction. According to Paula R. Backscheider, Rowe's major focus in her novels was on creating characters who were seeking a harmonious, contented life, often in the face of considerable social pressure. This quest would become the plotline in a large number of works in the second half of the eighteenth century, and it continues to be a major theme today in novels by women.Backscheider relates Rowe’s work to popular fiction written by earlier writers as well as by her contemporaries. Rowe had a lasting influence on major movements, including the politeness (or gentility) movement, the reading revolution, and the Bluestocking society. The author reveals new information about each of these movements, and Elizabeth Singer Rowe emerges as an important innovator. Her influence resulted in new types of novel writing, philosophies, and lifestyles for women. Backscheider looks to archival materials, literary analysis, biographical evidence, and a configuration of cultural and feminist theories to prove her groundbreaking argument.

Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel

British & Irish

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Books by Backscheider, Paula R.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Backscheider, Paula R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Reflections on Biography

Reflections on Biography

Daniel Defoe: His Life

Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre

Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre

Moll Flanders: The Making of a Criminal Mind (Twayne's Masterwork Studies)

Moll Flanders: The Making of a Criminal Mind (Twayne's Masterwork Studies)

Daniel Defoe: Ambition & Innovation

The Excursion (Eighteenth-Century Novels by Women)

Elizabeth Singer Rowe and the Development of the English Novel