East Lynne

by Wood, Ellen; Maunder, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9781551112343
• ISBN10: 1551112345
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Broadview Pr

Summary

When the aristocratic Lady Isabel abandons her husband and children for her wicked seducer, more is at stake than moral retribution. Ellen Wood played upon the anxieties of the Victorian middle classes who feared a breakdown of the social order as divorce became more readily available andpromiscuity threatened the sanctity of the family. In her novel the simple act of hiring a governess raises the spectres of murder, disguise, and adultery. Her sensation novel was devoured by readers from the Prince of Wales to Joseph Conrad and continued to fascinate theatre-goers and cinemaaudiences well into the next century. This edition returns for the first time to the racy, slang-ridden narrative of the first edition, rather than the subsequent stylistically 'improved' versions hitherto reproduced by modern editors.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	8	(1)
Introduction	9	(27)
A Note on the Text	36	(1)
A Brief Chronology	37	(2)
Ellen Wood
East Lynne	39	(654)
Appendix A: Letters from Ellen Wood on the writing and publication of East Lynne	693	(5)
Appendix B: Geraldine Jewsbury's Reader's Report on East Lynne	698	(2)
Appendix C: Wood's East Lynne contract with Richard Bentley and Son	700	(2)
Appendix D: Serialisation of East Lynne	702	(3)
Appendix E: Contemporary Reviews	705	(15)
Appendix F: The Sensation Novel	720	(7)
Appendix G: Women's Education and Responsibilities	727	(5)
Appendix H: Selected Contemporary Medical Opinions on Men, Women, and Sexuality	732	(3)
Appendix I: Contemporary Images of Women	735	(6)
Appendix J: Extracts from T.A. Palmer's adaptation of East Lynne	741	(36)
Works Cited and Recommended Reading	777