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Realities
Beautiful young Clara de Saumarez, strong-willed and impulsive, runs away from her aristocratic family to London to become an actress after her father punishes her with a dog whip. In London, she becomes an acclaimed actress, but disregards societal conventions by living with her theatre manager, Vasty Vaughan. Clara's beauty inspires the love of three men: the lecherous Vaughan, the handsome but rigidly Calvinistic curate Edward Mantell, and the kind Socialist Percival Glynn. But as Clara's story unfolds, she begins to be aware of the unpleasant realities around her, including her own equivocal social status, the inequalities facing women, and the suffering of the working class.
First published in 1851, Eliza Lynn Linton's Realities met with near-unanimous disdain from critics, who decried its "repulsive portraits" and its tendency to "shock and disgust". This new edition, the first-ever reprinting of the novel, includes the unabridged text of the original three-volume edition as well as a new introduction and notes by Deborah T. Meem and the text of contemporary reviews.
First published in 1851, Eliza Lynn Linton's Realities met with near-unanimous disdain from critics, who decried its "repulsive portraits" and its tendency to "shock and disgust". This new edition, the first-ever reprinting of the novel, includes the unabridged text of the original three-volume edition as well as a new introduction and notes by Deborah T. Meem and the text of contemporary reviews.
- GenresVictorian
486 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1851
2 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Eliza Lynn Linton
141 books10 followersNote Eliza's books are sometimes published under Elizabeth Lynn Linton or as E. Lynn Linton.
Eliza Lynn Linton was a British novelist, essayist, and journalist.
The daughter of a clergyman and granddaughter of a bishop of Carlisle, she arrived in London in 1845 as the protegé of poet Walter Savage Landor. In the following year she produced her first novel, Azeth, the Egyptian; Amymone (1848), and Realities (1851), followed. None of these had any great success, and she became a journalist, joining the staff of the Morning Chronicle, and All the Year Round.
In 1858 she married W. J. Linton, an eminent wood-engraver, who was also a poet of some note, a writer upon his craft, and a Chartist agitator. In 1867 they separated in a friendly way, the husband going to America, and the wife returning to writing novels, in which she finally attained wide popularity. Her most successful works were The True History of Joshua Davidson (1872), Patricia Kemball (1874), and Christopher Kirkland.
She was also a severe critic of the "New Woman." Her most famous essay on this subject, "The Girl of the Period," was published in Saturday Review in 1868 and was a vehement attack on feminism. In 1891, she wrote "Wild Women as Politicians" which explained her opinion that politics was naturally the sphere of men, as was fame of any sort. "Amongst our most renowned womené, she wrote, "are some who say with their whole heart, 'I would rather have been the wife of a great man, or the mother of a hero, than what I am, famous in my own person." Mrs Linton is a leading example of the fact that the fight against votes for Women was not only organized by men.
-Wikipedia
Eliza Lynn Linton was a British novelist, essayist, and journalist.
The daughter of a clergyman and granddaughter of a bishop of Carlisle, she arrived in London in 1845 as the protegé of poet Walter Savage Landor. In the following year she produced her first novel, Azeth, the Egyptian; Amymone (1848), and Realities (1851), followed. None of these had any great success, and she became a journalist, joining the staff of the Morning Chronicle, and All the Year Round.
In 1858 she married W. J. Linton, an eminent wood-engraver, who was also a poet of some note, a writer upon his craft, and a Chartist agitator. In 1867 they separated in a friendly way, the husband going to America, and the wife returning to writing novels, in which she finally attained wide popularity. Her most successful works were The True History of Joshua Davidson (1872), Patricia Kemball (1874), and Christopher Kirkland.
She was also a severe critic of the "New Woman." Her most famous essay on this subject, "The Girl of the Period," was published in Saturday Review in 1868 and was a vehement attack on feminism. In 1891, she wrote "Wild Women as Politicians" which explained her opinion that politics was naturally the sphere of men, as was fame of any sort. "Amongst our most renowned womené, she wrote, "are some who say with their whole heart, 'I would rather have been the wife of a great man, or the mother of a hero, than what I am, famous in my own person." Mrs Linton is a leading example of the fact that the fight against votes for Women was not only organized by men.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 10, 2021
I'm so grateful to Valancourt Books for bringing this obscure mid nineteenth century novel back into circulation. Realities is a stinging rebuke of hypocritical Christians, mistreatment of the poor, and the cruelties of Victorian prisons among other topics. Amongst all this, Linton tells the story of a young woman discovering herself. Shocking at the time, for its descriptions of sexual attraction, slop workers, and prostitutes, Realities still has the power to shock and move the reader, particularly through its descriptions of abject poverty and suffering children. And yet despite the dark subject matter, Linton's wonderful sense of humor shines through in some passages that caused me to laugh aloud. Incredibly entertaining and highly recommended.
Want to read
November 7, 2024Ch 36 P24 Each will be arraigned so they will they all stand before us.
December 19, 2015
Que bello sería si fuésemos capaces de redescubrir a Eliza Lynn Linton. De ella fue el último libro que tomé, solían interesarme más sus historias pobladas de brujas vampiros románticos. Pero lo que tenemos acá es otra cosa. Los monstruos son también soñadores, empresarios teatrales, calvinistas, socialistas.
Incluso su protagonista es monstruosa, la adorable princesa que escapa de su clase social para ir a vivir la vida del pueblo, pero ella misma se da cuenta de su rol, del peso de ser quien es.
La lectura de Eliza vale la pena en muchos sentidos, pero esta "escandalosa"mujer profesional, periodista y escritora, tiene capaz de verdades a ser descubiertas.
Dejo la invitación.
Incluso su protagonista es monstruosa, la adorable princesa que escapa de su clase social para ir a vivir la vida del pueblo, pero ella misma se da cuenta de su rol, del peso de ser quien es.
La lectura de Eliza vale la pena en muchos sentidos, pero esta "escandalosa"mujer profesional, periodista y escritora, tiene capaz de verdades a ser descubiertas.
Dejo la invitación.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews