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102:. Domestic bereavement coupled with the reverses in his business fortunes compounded with deteriorating health, and he suffered a paralysing stroke. He lived for three more years until he suffered a second, fatal stroke in 1797. Eliza's second oldest son also died in the military. In 1803, one of her daughters died, and in 1804 so did her youngest son.
87:. Mr Parsons invested his remaining money in his dwindling turpentine trade, and for about three years, the family's standard of living returned to the pre-American Revolution level. In 1782, however, a devastating fire broke out in one of the warehouses, spread quickly, and destroyed everything Mr Parsons owned. He then took a position in the
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Parsons turned to Gothic writing as a genre that was highly popular at the time. Critics often claimed her works were ill-written and disorganised. Parsons was a deeply religious
Protestant, who believed in the good being rewarded and the wicked punished, which shows through in her works. Her first
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Left alone with a family to provide for, Eliza began to write novels to support them. Over a career spanning 1790 and 1807, she wrote 19 novels and one play, contained in a total of 60 volumes. Nonetheless, she was perpetually short of money. Between 1793 and 1803 she received 45 guineas from the
72:, as the only daughter of John Phelp, a wine merchant, and his wife Roberta Phelp. She spent her childhood in a prosperous household and became well educated for a young woman in the 18th century. At about 21 years old, Eliza married a
190:'s works were not named and two of Parsons's were. Many of Parsons's novels had prefaces that would seem to invite sympathy from the readers towards her unfortunate situation and to excuse her lack of talent.
64:
The life of Eliza
Parsons has been subject to much speculation, but most researchers agree she was born in 1739. Parsons's baptismal certificate is dated 4 April 1739. Eliza was born in
161:(1799). Parsons shows female Gothic-writing characteristics by having a heroine trick her way into an inheritance while pretending to be vulnerable and innocent.
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portrays this idea, along with belief in a strong patriarchal family and respect for the middle class rather than aristocracy. Other novels of hers include
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About 1778–1779, the family moved to a suburb in London, when
Parsons's turpentine business saw a decline as an indirect result of the
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followed in 1793, in a period when opinion in
England and France was starting to turn away from arranged marriages.
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186:. These titles were thought to be fictitious until December 1912. Critics have said it is no accident that
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The
Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present
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that
Catherine Morland recommends to Isabella Thorpe in Chapter 6 of Jane Austen's
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379:, 50 (2), pp. 223–224. Retrieved from Humanities International Complete database.
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Several months before the warehouse fire, the
Parsons's eldest son had died in
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143:, appeared in 1790, the year of her husband's death. The better-known
80:, on 24 March 1760. Together they had three sons and five daughters.
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had happy endings that were too clumsy and convenient for critics.
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K. Morton (2003): New
Biographical Material on Eliza Parsons.
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Virginia Blain and
Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, ed.
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Diane
Hoeveler, editor of the Valancourt Books edition of
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F. S. Frank, D. H. Thomson and J. G. Voller, eds (2002):
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Corvey CW3 - Author Page - Eliza Parsons, 1740 - 1811
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537:
Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide
98:, immediately after his promotion to captain of the
464:. D. L. Hoeveler, ed., Kansas City, MO: Valancourt.
366:, claims Parsons was born in 1748 and died aged 63.
114:. She died on 5 February 1811 at the age of 72 in
76:distiller, James Parsons, from the nearby town of
317:Love and Gratitude; or Traits of the Human Heart
221:The Intrigues of a Morning; or an Hour in Paris
118:in Essex, survived by four married daughters.
8:
548:Titles marked * appear in Corvey catalogue:
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338:The Wise Ones Bubbled; or Lovers Triumphant
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26:) (1739 – 5 February 1811) was an English
46:recommended as reading by a character in
412:Introduction to The Castle of Wolfenbach
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390:Introduction to The Mysterious Warning
480:. Yale University Press, 1990 p. 835.
7:
239:Anecdotes of Two Well-Known Families
681:19th-century English women writers
676:18th-century British women writers
14:
524:The Handbook to Gothic Literature
539:. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
323:The Convict, or, Navy Lieutenant
174:(1796), feature among the seven
522:M. Mulvey-Roberts, ed. (1998):
671:19th-century English novelists
666:18th-century English novelists
1:
526:. New York: University Press.
305:The Peasant of Ardenne Forest
281:An Old Friend with a New Face
42:(1796). These are two of the
661:Writers from Plymouth, Devon
607:Resources in other libraries
583:Resources in other libraries
392:. London: Folio Press, 1968.
287:The Valley of Saint Gotthard
209:The History of Miss Meredith
159:The Valley of Saint Gotthard
141:The History of Miss Meredith
85:American War of Independence
16:English novelist (1739–1811)
626:Sheffield Hallam University
712:
696:Writers of Gothic fiction
602:Resources in your library
578:Resources in your library
550:Retrieved 14 August 2012.
505:Retrieved March 10, 2010.
275:The Girl of the Mountains
164:Two of Parsons's novels,
462:The Castle of Wolfenbach
364:The Castle of Wolfenbach
293:The Miser and His Family
245:The Castle of Wolfenbach
192:The Castle of Wolfenbach
166:The Castle of Wolfenbach
151:The Castle of Wolfenbach
146:The Castle of Wolfenbach
33:The Castle of Wolfenbach
691:English women novelists
110:and also worked at the
656:English horror writers
269:The Mysterious Warning
233:Woman as She Should Be
196:The Mysterious Warning
171:The Mysterious Warning
135:
132:The Mysterious Warning
39:The Mysterious Warning
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122:Female Gothic writing
686:Women horror writers
311:The Mysterious Visit
510:19 May 2009 at the
460:E. Parsons (2007):
388:Varma, Devendra P.
377:Notes & Queries
257:The Voluntary Exile
215:Errors of Education
108:Royal Literary Fund
44:seven Gothic titles
401:Morton, K. (2003).
330:Two undated novels
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564:Library resources
263:Women as they Are
155:Women as They Are
30:, best known for
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591:By Eliza Parsons
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416:Valancourt Books
410:Diane Hoeveler,
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183:Northanger Abbey
130:Frontispiece to
89:Lord Chamberlain
53:Northanger Abbey
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227:Ellen and Julia
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28:Gothic novelist
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444:Introduction
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651:1811 deaths
646:1739 births
632:collection)
157:(1797) and
116:Leytonstone
91:'s office.
48:Jane Austen
36:(1793) and
640:Categories
628:(based on
490:ODNB entry
351:References
78:Stonehouse
74:turpentine
50:'s novel
508:Archived
503:(n. d.)
66:Plymouth
442:Varma,
427:Varma,
418:, 2007.
343:Rosetta
325:(1807)*
313:(1802)*
301:(1801)*
295:(1800)*
289:(1799)*
283:(1797)*
277:(1797)*
139:novel,
96:Jamaica
630:Corvey
566:about
134:, 1796
202:Works
70:Devon
24:Phelp
22:(née
251:Lucy
194:and
168:and
60:Life
624:at
642::
469:^
451:^
435:^
68:,
56:.
446:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
