Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan), The Wild Irish Girl (1806)

verfasst von: Ralf Haekel
Abstract: The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson – better known as Lady Morgan, the name she used after her marriage – was first published in 1806, just 6 years after the Union with England, which effectively turned Ireland into a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Although the novel is widely acknowledged to be a key and formative text of Anglo-Irish fiction – establishing the genre of the Irish National Tale dubbed after the novel’s subtitle –, it is much less recognized as a key text of British Romanticism. Within a wider understanding of British Romanticism, a conception that includes texts written by female authors from one of the regions traditionally ignored – Ireland –, the novel fully explores its ambiguous potential. On the one hand, it is a work of fiction that has its roots in eighteenth-century aesthetics and history, yet also signifies a new beginning in that it fundamentally inspired later Romantic authors such as Sir Walter Scott and the genre of the historical novel. On the other hand, it showcases how a particularly Irish form of Romanticism paved the way for nineteenth-century modes of fiction based on cultural nationalism and national identity formation.
Organisationseinheit(en): Englisches Seminar
Typ: Beitrag in Buch/Sammelwerk
Seiten: 425-438
Anzahl der Seiten: 14
Publikationsdatum: 2017
Publikationsstatus: Veröffentlicht
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete: Geisteswissenschaftliche Fächer (insg.)
Elektronische Version(en): https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110376692-024 (Zugang: Geschlossen)

BibTeX

@inbook{842b0efb4ea74315821bc34b07a693d8,
title = "Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan), The Wild Irish Girl (1806)",
abstract = "The Wild Irish Girl by Sydney Owenson – better known as Lady Morgan, the name she used after her marriage – was first published in 1806, just 6 years after the Union with England, which effectively turned Ireland into a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Although the novel is widely acknowledged to be a key and formative text of Anglo-Irish fiction – establishing the genre of the Irish National Tale dubbed after the novel{\textquoteright}s subtitle –, it is much less recognized as a key text of British Romanticism. Within a wider understanding of British Romanticism, a conception that includes texts written by female authors from one of the regions traditionally ignored – Ireland –, the novel fully explores its ambiguous potential. On the one hand, it is a work of fiction that has its roots in eighteenth-century aesthetics and history, yet also signifies a new beginning in that it fundamentally inspired later Romantic authors such as Sir Walter Scott and the genre of the historical novel. On the other hand, it showcases how a particularly Irish form of Romanticism paved the way for nineteenth-century modes of fiction based on cultural nationalism and national identity formation.",
keywords = "Act of Union, Anglo-Irish Fiction, National Tale",
author = "Ralf Haekel",
year = "2017",
doi = "10.1515/9783110376692-024",
language = "English",
isbn = "9783110376364",
pages = "425--438",
editor = "Rafael Haekel",
booktitle = "Handbook of British Romanticism",
publisher = "de Gruyter",
address = "Germany",
}