Edgeworth, Maria

Edgeworth, Maria, 1767–1849, Irish novelist; daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. She lived practically her entire life on her father's estate in Ireland. Letters for Literary Ladies (1795), her first publication, argued for the education of women. She is best known for her novels of Irish life—Castle Rackrent (1800), Belinda (1801), and The Absentee (1812). Although her works are marred somewhat by didacticism, they are notable for their realism, humor, and freshness of style. She also wrote a number of stories for children, including Moral Tales (1801).

Bibliography

See selected letters ed. by C. Colvin (1971); studies by M. Butler (1972) and C. Owens (1987).

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Edgeworth, Maria

(born Jan. 1, 1767, Blackbourton, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died May 22, 1849, Edgeworthstown, Ire.) British-Irish writer. From age 15 she assisted her father in managing his estate, gaining a knowledge of rural economy and the Irish peasantry. Her early children's stories, published as The Parent's Assistant (1796), feature the first convincing child characters since Shakespeare. Castle Rackrent (1800), her first novel, revealed her gift for social observation and authentic dialogue. Other notable works are Belinda (1801); Tales of Fashionable Life (1809–12), a six-volume work including the novel The Absentee, which focused attention on abuses by absentee English landowners; Patronage (1814); and Ormond (1817).