A Blighted Life: A True Story 1880 Edition

by Rosina Bulwer-Lytton

Book by Lytton, Rosina B.

Genres: Nonfiction, Mental Illness, Biography, Psychology

111 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1880

About the author

Born Rosina Doyle Wheeler.

Rosina Bulwer Lytton, Baroness Lytton was an Anglo-Irish writer who published fourteen novels, a volume of essays, and a volume of letters.

In 1827, she married Edward Bulwer-Lytton, a novelist and politician. Their marriage ended, and he falsely accused her of insanity and had her detained in an insane asylum, which provoked a public outcry. This she chronicled in a memoir, A Blighted Life (1880).

He was made a baronet in the 1830s and was raised to the peerage in 1866; although she had separated from her husband, Lytton used the title Lady Lytton. She spelled her married surname without the hyphen used by her husband.

- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Nicole C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosina Bulwer was the unfortunate wife of Edward Bulwer-Lytton (a prolific author of purple prose, he coined "it was a dark and stormy night"). He was abusive, even biting her cheek at one point during an argument. They separated, but he was paying her a paltry sum on which to live. She tried for years to get what was rightfully due her, to no avail. Bulwer-Lytton was also a politician, and this is where she decides to hit her ex where he lives. She denounces him publicly, airing their dirty laundry (which apparently she'd also been doing in print, under assumed names, as she was a writer herself). Her ex husband sets in motion a task to get her carted off to an asylum. Under the Lunacy Laws of the time, this was easy to do. As long as two people signed a certificate that said the victim was insane (not even doctors, necessarily), she could be locked up. Thankfully, Mrs. Bulwer had the public to assist her in getting out, and she was only incarcerated for a short time. How many other poor souls, however, must have languished behind lock and key, without anyone to help them?

I read this via Wikisource. Mrs. Bulwer's tale is a little difficult to read through, as she never mentions full names. However, the supplemental articles from newspapers of the time help to fill in the blanks.

[Debbie]

Reading this, I tend to sympathise with Sir Edward!