The British Recluse: or, the Secret History of Cleomira, Suppos'd Dead

by Eliza Fowler Haywood

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Western literary study flows out of eighteenth-century works by Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Frances Burney, Denis Diderot, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and others. Experience the birth of the modern novel, or compare the development of language using dictionaries and grammar discourses. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++Huntington LibraryN015726With a final advertisement leaf.London: printed for D. Brown, Jun.; W. Chetwood; and J. Woodman; and S. Chapman, 1722. 4],138, 2]p.; 8

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Womens, Romance, Read For School

87 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1722

About the author

Eliza Haywood (1693 – 1756), born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest. Described as “prolific even by the standards of a prolific age” (Blouch, intro 7), Haywood wrote and published over seventy works during her lifetime including fiction, drama, translations, poetry, conduct literature and periodicals. Haywood is a significant figure of the 18th century as one of the important founders of the novel in English. Today she is studied primarily as a novelist.

Reviews

[Staffan Lindstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1722 novel was the second by that prolific writer Eliza Haywood. It is thus an early entry in the history of the British novel, written before the art of writing novels had developed very far.
A young lady called Belinda comes to stay at a London boarding house, where she soon becomes aquainted with the recluse, who tells her unhappy story of being in love with a heartless deciever. Then Belinda tells the recluse her own very similar story. The two young ladies are not much differentiated; they have hardly any individual traits beyond their violent passion for the man who turns out to be a villain. In fact all the characters are stereotypes, just playing their parts in the plot. There is, however, a nice surprise at the end.
But the story is told in a very charming prose which has the grace and strength of good Eighteenth- century English, and since this is a facsimile edition all the flavour is retained.
A very pleasant read.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so unexpectedly feminist -- I want someone to rewrite it today but Cleomira and Belinda fall in love over the course of telling their stories. I mean, the contented female friendship they go on to exist in is also bomb, but this could make one awesome romance. I am increasingly surprised by how much I come to love the characters of amatory fictions, though they are by all counts flat and unoriginal. There's some magic happening here that I don't understand.

[Ellie Kidger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haywood's style of writing may not be the most accessible, but it's stunning. Her epistles in particular are well-written, and she crafts fascinating plots about relationships and constructions of femininity in the early eighteenth century.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting

I read this book for my Honours project on 18th c. amatory fiction and quite enjoyed it. Haywood’s sentences may be a bit long and her stories harder to get into compared to other authors of her time such as Behn but still enjoyable

[Fira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chapelle Roan would love it

[iman j · Rating 4 out of 5]

It kind of lost me here and there but this book was genuinely so good. I would recommend it. It was beautifully written and very captivating. I think this is a timeless book and may read it again.

[Pablo López · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far, one of the sweetest, most beautiful texts I've read.

(Lysander is the original fuckboy of the English-speaking world)

[Heidi Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The romanticism of this novel is immaculate!!!!! The number of times I underlines passages just because I liked them was high, which is interesting considering I read this for a class. Cleomira and Belinda very much seem more than "roommates," which my entire ENG 364 class agreed with, which adds another level of intrigue among the kind of expected but nonetheless hilarious plot-twist at the end. Loved this and will be reading more of Eliza Haywood in the future!