SchD"urer (California State Univ., Long Beach) presents a learned, highly readable, and engaging set of all known letters relating to 18th-century English author Charlotte Lennox (c1730-1804). His copious, meticulous bibliographical research shows the long, complicated personal and literary life of Lennox, whose sex often negatively affected her ability to make a living. The preface details editorial practices and glosses terms. ... Read moreThe introduction describes Lennox's enigmatic early life and her tragic final years, as it contextualizes her prolific work. Schürer fills in information on the publishing and legal worlds of the time (material that helps explain Lennox's actions) and also her close relationships with prominent literary mentors such as Johnson, Boswell, and Richardson, and aristocratic patrons such as the Countess of Bute and the Marquess of Rockingham. In the useful, extensive notes, the editor explains historical events and literary circumstances related to the letters and to supplementary documents in the appendixes. Readers need not have specialized knowledge or theoretical background to understand the content and value of this volume, which is easy to read and has an informal but scholarly tone. Summing Up: Recommended.
CHOICE
Norbet Schürer has produced a thoughtful and well-researched annotated edition of the correspondence of Charlotte Lennox (1729-1804) supplemented documents that assist in placing her life in context. Both her letters and the documents from the Royal Literary Fund, correspondence and ledger information, are collected here for the first time, making it possible to approach Lennox as one had already been able to approach Wollstonecraft, Burney, and Inchbald: as a businesswoman and author. In addition, Schürer provides brief biographies of Lennox’s correspondents, adding to the depth and usefulness of his edition as a research and teaching tool. Strongly recommended for advance courses in British literature, courses in women’s studies, and in courses that deal with eighteenth-century genres.
The Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
[Norbert Schürer] is. . . able to construct an appealingly unified narrative of Lennox’s professional life, taking us from her early requests for patronage, through various failed subscription projects up to her eventual friendship with the Boswell family and the desperate financial and medical plights of her final years. Supplementing this narrative are the fascinating ‘miscellaneous documents’ described in the book’s title.
British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
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