Fashionable connections: Alicia LeFanu and writing from the edge

Fitzer, Anna M.

Abstract

This article focuses upon Alicia LeFanu (fl. 1809–36), author of several poems, six multi-volume novels, a critical biography of her grandmother, Frances Sheridan, and articles for the Court Magazine. Descended from an eminent literary family, and since misremembered as a mere ‘petticoat novelist’, LeFanu complicates ideas of the centre and the periphery in her writing. I explore how this interest is figured in LeFanu's use of the chapter epigraph, developing work I have undertaken as editor of LeFanu's early novel, Strathallan (1816). LeFanu's epigraphs persist across her fiction as a dimension in which she not only reflects upon literary legacies, but also contests the boundaries of her own print culture. Through its consideration of LeFanu, as author and reader, the article further reflects upon the significance of her example for a broader understanding of other women writers at the edges and borders of Romanticism, and of their literary networks.

Citation

Fitzer, A. M. (2018). Fashionable connections: Alicia LeFanu and writing from the edge. Romanticism, 24(2), 179-190. https://doi.org/10.3366/rom.2018.0371

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Jul 23, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 1, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 10, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 27, 2022
• Journal: Romanticism
• Print ISSN: 1354-991X
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 179-190
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/rom.2018.0371
• Keywords: Epigraph; LeFanu; Strathallan; Sheridan; Women's writing; Seward
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/527535
• Publisher URL: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/rom.2018.0371
• Additional Information: This article has been accepted for publication by Edinburgh University Press in Romanticism at https://www.euppublishing.com/loi/rom.
• Contract Date: Jan 10, 2018