Vertue Rewarded; or, The Irish Princess [Anon]

by Ian Campbell Ross (Editor), Anne Markey

Vertue Rewarded; or, The Irish Princess (1693) is one of the earliest examples of Irish prose fiction. Published in London, the novel is set in and around Clonmel, in August 1690, during the wars between the Jacobite James II and the Dutch Protestant William of Orange, later William III. Remarkably, the principal narrative concerning the young Irishwoman Marinda and the foreign Prince of S_______g, is interwoven with interpolated tales, including that of the Irish princess Cluaneesha, set in pre-Norman Ireland, and of the south American Indian Faniaca, whose story begins in Peru during the Spanish conquest of the Incas. Grounding its romance narrative in a detailed Irish setting, Vertue Rewarded draws American material from Royal Commentaries (1688), a translation by the diplomat and scholar, Sir Paul Rycaut, recently Chief Secretary for Ireland, of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega's account of native resistance to Spanish imperialism. This edition presents an original-spelling text, with an introduction and extensive annotation designed to make the book readily accessible to scholars, postgraduate and undergraduate students.

Genres: Irish Literature

162 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 2010

Reviews

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah this was bad. I couldn't do it. I don't have anything to say about this, because it was such a hot mess of a story. I get it a lot of interweaving ideas and this was before the novel was a thing, but I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for uni. argh

[Aine · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting historical setting that could have made for an interesting but there was too much focus on the chase of the prince for the 'fair maiden'.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

read for my marriage, sex, and power in irish lit class. super strange plot- but the concept of it having a plot made it closer to a novel for me, which was cool. trippy but i can see its importance.

[Steve Ashworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a load of random bollocks if I'm honest, I think that a blind person would make more sense attempting to read by scrotum wrinkles like Braille than I do reading this book.