|
Clara Reeve (23 January 1729 – 3 December 1807) was an English novelist, best known for her Gothic novel ''The Old English Baron'' (1777).〔Gary Kelly, "Reeve, Clara" (1729–1807)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford: OUP. (Retrieved 24 January 2015 )〕 ==Biography== Reeve was born in Ipswich, England, one of the eight children of Reverend William Reeve, M.A., Rector of Freston and of Kreson in Suffolk, and perpetual curate of St Nicholas. Her mother's maiden name was Smithies, daughter of a Smithies, a goldsmith and jeweller to King George I. In a letter to one of her friends Reeve said the following of her father and her early life: After the death of her father, she lived with her mother and sisters in Colchester. It was there that she first became an author, publishing a translation of a work by Barclay under the title of ''The Phoenix'' (1772).〔Scott (1870) p. 545〕 She wrote several novels, of which only one is remembered: ''The Champion of Virtue'', later known as ''The Old English Baron'' (1777), written in imitation of, or rivalry with, ''The Castle of Otranto'' by Horace Walpole, with which it has often been printed. The first edition under the title of ''The Old English Baron'' was dedicated to the daughter of Samuel Richardson, who is said to have helped Reeve revise and correct the novel.〔Scott (1870) p. 546〕 The novel noticeably influenced Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein''. She also wrote the epistolary novel ''The School for Widows'' (1791). Her innovative history of prose fiction, ''The Progress of Romance'' (1785), can be regarded generally as a precursor to modern histories of the novel and specifically as upholding the tradition of female literary history heralded by Elizabeth Rowe (1674–1737) and Susannah Dobson (d. 1795). One of the stories in the work, "The History of Charoba, Queen of Egypt", was the inspiration for Walter Savage Landor's first major piece, ''Gebir''. Reeve led a retired life, leaving very little biographical material. She died at Ipswich and was buried by her own direction in the churchyard of St. Stephens, next to her friend the Reverend Derby.〔Scott (1870) p. 546〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clara Reeve」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|