Book Description
An orphan, handsome Harry Ormond has been raised, with a mixture of indulgence and neglect, by the corrupt, hard-drinking Anglo-Irish politician, Sir Ulick O'Shane. When Ormond's hot temper involves him in a near-fatal shooting, he is sent away to live with King Corny, his guardian's kind-hearted, eccentric cousin. Possessing neither property nor fortune, Ormond is determined to make his way in the world like an Irish Tom Jones. Blending issues of moral development with questions about the shape of Ireland's political future, Maria Edgeworth emphasizes the importance of education and upbringing, as opposed to inheritance and lineage, in her tale of Harry Ormond. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Irish Waverly?
Edgeworth's Ormond is a great book, comparable to the best of Scott and Austen.In it, we follow the young Ormond from his wealthy adolescence with his uncle; a sojourn with another, more eccentric uncle in the Black Islands; to a grand tour of Paris before the revolution; and to his mature return to Ireland.The mirroring of political tensions in pre-revolutionary France with conflicts between Irish political factions are further complicated by Ormond's own allegiance to the English mililary.

This novel is more than a romance, more than a coming-of-age novel, and more than a historical novel.It possesses the same melange of styles one would expect from an heir of Sterne and Swift, and a progenitor of Le Fanu, Joyce, and Beckett.If you have read all of Austen and wonder what to read next, Ormond should be a delight.

A good 'Coming of Age' story
This is the story of Ormond, an orphan who is raised and influenced by several very different men.It is a reflective story, but not a slow-read.You learn how Ormond chooses his values and learns how to judge people based upon his own opinions and beliefs, not what others try to tell him.It is a good novel, worth reading, not necessarily a great "adventure" but more a life story about how a young boy grows up and becomes a man---one with morals, when those around him sometimes lack all morality. ... Read more

Book Description
An examination of comedy and feminism in the works of early women British novelists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

scholarly but accessible feminist look at Austen et al.
I was anxious to read this book because I've always enjoyed 18th and 19th century literature, and believed that the humor found in the works of Austen and Burney were overlooked and undermentioned.Author Bilger examines the works of Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen, and posits that the humor they used was subversive -- laughter at the expense of the overbearing patriarchal culture in which they lived.

While this isn't exactly what I'd hoped it would be, it was more accessible than many scholarly works, and after I got into the rhythm and jargon of the academic writing, I found myself entertained as well as informed -- such a lovely combination.

Laughter is a commodity too often ignored and a tool too often overlooked, but the author makes her case that these three authors consciously used satire, burlesque and parody to criticize their culture while maintaining the guise of docile co-conspirators.Bilger begins with interesting chapters on women & comedy and Mary Shelley's feminism before discussing the lives of her subjects, their beliefs and their use of comedic technique and characters to undermine the dominant paradigm, as it were.Naive observers, female tricksters, competitive women, nimcompoop suitors and ignorant patriarchs are described and then illustrated with short excerpts from the many works by these talented authors -- in particular Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey; Burney's Camilla and The Wanderer; and Edgeworth's Belinda and Helen.

I thought the most interesting chapter was on "goblin humor", dark humor that is still considered distasteful by many and seems shocking when found in these quiet comedies of manners.Here the author displayed a mastery of comic theory as well as the literature, and made her case admirably, without descent into the jargon-laden victimization theory that dominates feminist film theory, for example.Rather, Bilger posits that Austen, Burney and Edgeworth found an outlet for what they could have considered a hopeless situation, and that they consciously and actively did their best to undermine the system in which they lived, reflecting and building upon the work of earlier feminists, and sending out beacons of camaraderie to women living under cultural and personal subjugation.

The book concludes with a fine Notes section, a bibliography and a good index. ... Read more

Book Description
The only edition to use the 1802 text, this lively comedy challenges the conventions of courtship, examines questions of female independence, and exposes the limits of domesticity. The text used in this edition also confronts the difficult and fascinating issues of racism and mixed marriage, which Edgeworth toned down in later editions.Download Description
If I had served myself, with half the zeal that I have served the world, I should not now be thus forsaken!--I have sacrificed reputation, happiness--every thing, to the love of frolic--All frolic will soon be at an end with me--I am dying--and I shall die unlamented by any human being. --If I were to live my life over again, what a different life it should be!--What a different person I would be! --But it is all over now--I am dying. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A joy to read
I started reading Belinda around 6pm and finally around 2:30am I decided that I had best go to bed and finish the book later.Well, 10 minutes later my light was back on and I stayed up until 6:30am finishing the book.Not even all of Jane Austen's work has done that to me!

The themes of gender and sexual attitudes, colonialism, religion, etc can easily be found in this work if you're interested in it for its scholarly value.However for the lay person it is a beautifully written, light read that is reminiscent of Austen's Mansfield Park or Sense and Sensibility (I certainly don't see many parallels to Pride and Prejudice as one reviewer did).If you're looking to go past Austen into early 19th century English literature, I would certainly recommend this book highly.

no Jane Austen...
I read the book based on reader recommendations that equated 'Belinda' with Jane Austen's work. I had high expectations but struggled to read the book to the end. I found the writing at certain points more like an essay than a novel. Her character development seems forced, and there is little ambient description. Those interested in tracing literary associations of Jane Austen should probably read the book, but if you've read all of Austen's work and are desperately looking for something 'similar' to her style and quality, I would recommend you look elsewhere.

A good read!
Why I never heard about this book until I stumbled upon it online, I will never know!This is as good as any Jane Austen novel, and should have a BBC film of it's own.

Feminism and colonialism
Besides this being as readable as Jane Austen, this book is witty and intelligent.It raises thought provoking questions about gender roles and transgression that suggest that Edgeworth was not an ordinary woman. Unfortunately, like many other 18th C. novels, the book ends with all theusual conventions intact.The women who cross dress (and the man whocross-dresses!) are returned to their spheres and/or married.Don't get mewrong though, this book is quite innovative.I don't know of many literarywomen having duels and stepping in iron traps that cut up their legs.Alsoparticularly interesting is Edgeworth's treatment of colonialism: there isa cross-racial marriage that is entirely sanctioned.And yet the thoughtof the heroine marrying a creole is not approved.It is much better forher to marry an Englishman in the parliament.This is a delightful bookthat would entertain romantics and scholars.I would like to think that Iam both, though.

A sloppy edition of an interesting book
Belinda is Edgeworth at her best -- full of social comment and satire, gender- and other kinds of politics. It's great to have this novel in print, as a companion and contrast to the very dominant Austen. But I have to say this edition needs reworking; not only are there typos, but the notes are very spotty. Example: one character plays an early form of roulette, called E.O.; do we get a note on social attitudes to new games of chance other than cards? No. Further example: a character goes to visit the Chevalier D'Eon. Do we get a note explaining that this is a real person -- a crossdressing swordfighting real person?!!!!! No. Shame, World's Classics! How can you expect people to keep reading the notes when they're no help? ... Read more

Book Description
Your tastes, you say, are fixed; if they are so, you must be doubly careful to ensure their gratification. If you cannot make them subservient to external circumstances, you should certainly, if it be in your power, choose a situation in which circumstances will be subservient to them. If you are convinced that you could not adopt the tastes of another, it will be absolutely necessary for your happiness to live with one whose tastes are similar to your own.Download Description
Your tastes, you say, are fixed; if they are so, you must be doubly careful to ensure their gratification. If you cannot make them subservient to external circumstances, you should certainly, if it be in your power, choose a situation in which circumstances will be subservient to them. If you are convinced that you could not adopt the tastes of another, it will be absolutely necessary for your happiness to live with one whose tastes are similar to your own. ... Read more