This superb collection of new essays offers a unique insight into the work of a leading women dramatist of the Romantic era. Contributors offer: *contextual material for those new to Baillie's work *examinations of the relationships between her plays and the philosophical and scientific writing of the era *discussion of Baillie's theatrical methods *extended interpretations of individual plays. Ending years of neglect of Baillie's crucial work, this volume is essential reading for those working on Romanticism, women's writing, or drama of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

This superb collection of new essays offers a unique insight into the work of a leading women dramatist of the Romantic era. Contributors offer: *contextual material for those new to Baillie's work *examinations of the relationships between her plays and the philosophical and scientific writing of the era *discussion of Baillie's theatrical methods *extended interpretations of individual plays. Ending years of neglect of Baillie's crucial work, this volume is essential reading for those working on Romanticism, women's writing, or drama of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

This superb collection of new essays offers a unique insight into the work of a leading women dramatist of the Romantic era. Contributors offer: *contextual material for those new to Baillie's work *examinations of the relationships between her plays and the philosophical and scientific writing of the era *discussion of Baillie's theatrical methods *extended interpretations of individual plays. Ending years of neglect of Baillie's crucial work, this volume is essential reading for those working on Romanticism, women's writing, or drama of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Baillie’s eminently readable dramas stand at the crossroads of the Scottish Enlightenment and early Romanticism, and compellingly engage with questions of women’s rights. Her exploration of the passions, first published in 1798, is here reissued with a wealth of contextual materials including “The Introductory Discourse,” Baillie’s own brand of feminist literary criticism. The three plays included here are “Count Basil: A Tragedy,” and “The Tryal: A Comedy,” which show love from opposing perspectives; and “De Monfort: A Tragedy,” which explores the drama of hate. Among other appendices, the Broadview edition includes materials on the contemporary philosophical understanding of the passions, and contemporary reviews. Baillie’s work is enjoying a revival of interest. She lived a long life, (1762-1851), and had a wide circle of literary friends including Maria Edgeworth and Sir Walter Scott (who termed her a “female Shakespeare”). Scottish born, she moved to England in her twenties where she then resided. Her Plays on the Passions, alternatively known as A Series of Plays in which it is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind—Each Passion being the Subject of a Tragedy and Comedy was produced in three volumes between 1798 and 1812. The first volume created quite a stir amongst the literary circles of London and Edinburgh when introduced anonymously. The speculation into the authorship concluded two years later when Baillie came forward as the writer of the collection, thereby causing a subsequent sensation since no one had considered the shy spinster a candidate in the mystery.

Joanna Baillie and the Art of Moral Influence explores the project of moral reform that Baillie sets out for herself in the Introductory Discourse to her first volume of Plays on the Passions (1798). It begins by revealing the foundation that Baillie creates for her project as she combines her own unique theology with eighteenth-century moral philosophy and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century discourses on the theatre's potential to reform audiences. This book argues that Baillie uses this eclectic mix to craft a potentially radical social critique in the midst of a seemingly conservative moral project. Using examples from fifteen of her plays as well as from her prefaces and her religious tract, the book traces Baillie's moral project from its direct representations in De Monfort and Henriquez through its dangerous complexities in plays such as Orra and The Trial to its conflict with domestic ideology as an alternative means of reform in plays such as The Dream, Ethwald, The Phantom, and Witchcraft. This analysis of Baillie's project reveals how she ultimately overcomes the difficulties inherent in her project by asking her audiences to take responsibility for their moral reform rather than relying upon the domestic woman to change society and by asking her audiences to ground their interpretations in the basic truths of Christianity. Understanding Baillie's moral project and the discourses that influenced it and then seeing how it is enacted throughout her plays will allow teachers and scholars to appreciate even more fully the complexities of this British Romantic playwright.

The Companion to Romanticism is a major introductory survey from an international galaxy of scholars writing new pieces, specifically for a student readership, under the editorship of Duncan Wu.

Nineteenth Century Collections Online: European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection includes the full-text of more than 9,500 English, French and German titles. The collection is sourced from the remarkable library of Victor Amadeus, whose Castle Corvey collection was one of the most spectacular discoveries of the late 1970s. The Corvey Collection comprises one of the most important collections of Romantic era writing in existence anywhere -- including fiction, short prose, dramatic works, poetry, and more -- with a focus on especially difficult-to-find works by lesser-known, historically neglected writers. The Corvey library was built during the last half of the 19th century by Victor and his wife Elise, both bibliophiles with varied interests. The collection thus contains everything from novels and short stories to belles lettres and more populist works, and includes many exceedingly rare works not available in any other collection from the period. These invaluable, sometimes previously unknown works are of particular interest to scholars and researchers. European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection includes: * Novels and Gothic Novels * Short Stories * Belles-Lettres * Short Prose Forms * Dramatic Works * Poetry * Anthologies * And more Selected with the guidance of an international team of expert advisors, these primary sources are invaluable for a wide range of academic disciplines and areas of study, providing never before possible research opportunities for one of the most studied historical periods. Additional Metadata Primary Id: B1037600 PSM Id: NCCOF0063-C00000-B1037600 DVI Collection Id: NCCOC0062 Bibliographic Id: NCCO021695 Reel: 8832 MCODE: 4UVC Original Publisher: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. for John Ballantyne and Co. Original Publication Year: 1810 Original Publication Place: Edinburgh Original Imprint Manufacturer: Printed by James Ballantyne & Co. Subjects English drama (Tragedy) -- 19th century