Afbeelding van de auteur.

Sophia Lee (1) (1750–1824)

Auteur van The Recess: A Tale of Other Times

Voor andere auteurs genaamd Sophia Lee, zie de verduidelijkingspagina.

5 Werken 98 Leden 1 Geef een beoordeling

Over de Auteur

Fotografie: from wikipedia

Werken van Sophia Lee

The Recess: A Tale of Other Times (1804) 58 exemplaren
The Canterbury Tales (1797) 28 exemplaren
The Two Emilys (1798) 9 exemplaren

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Geboortedatum
1750
Overlijdensdatum
1824-03-13
Graflocatie
Clifton Church, Bristol, England
Geslacht
female
Nationaliteit
UK
Land (voor op de kaart)
UK
Geboorteplaats
London, England, UK
Plaats van overlijden
Clifton, Bristol, England, UK
Woonplaatsen
Clifton, Bristol, England, UK
Bath, Somerset, England, UK
Beroepen
playwright
novelist
educator
Relaties
Lee, Harriet (sister)
Korte biografie
Sophia Lee and her younger sister Harriet were born in London into a theatrical family, daughters of the actor John Lee and his wife Margaret. Sophia helped raise her younger siblings after the death of their mother in 1770. She started her writing career with a play called The Chapter of Accidents (1780) that was influenced by Diderot's comedy Le pere de famille. It proved extremely popular and after being initially staged at the Haymarket Theatre, it went on to have a run at both the Drury Lane Theatre and Covent Garden. The play was performed throughout the 18th-century in England, and was translated into French and German. Because of its popularity, Sophia had profits to invest in a school for young ladies at the handsome Belvidere House in Bath, which she ran with Harriet. The school had an excellent reputation and it flourished for more than 20 years. The school proved particularly successful and it's likely that the Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe, who grew up in Bath, attended the school; she later became a friend of Sophia Lee. Among the other pupils was Mrs. Siddons's youngest daughter, Cecilia. Sophia Lee also wrote the historical novel The Recess, or a Tale of Other Times (1783–1785). She and Harriet later co-authored The Canterbury Tales (1797–1805). In her preface to the revised 1832 edition, Harriet called the tales "gossiping long stories" and they can be viewed now as a precursor to the modern short story. Sophia Lee's last work was the novel Ormond; or the Debauchee (1810). She closed the school in 1803 and went to live first near Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire, and then in the village of Clifton, near Bristol, where she died.

Leden

Besprekingen

I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped I would. It's an early example of speculative/historical fiction (what would have happened if Mary, Queen of Scots had two secret children?) but really doesn't get too interesting until volume 3, when everything gets really exciting and you forget how unlikely any of the rest of the plot was (conveniently, these secret daughters comfortably hang out with all the big movers and shakers in Elizabeth's court, despite growing up in a cave). I'm not sure what it was that didn't click with me. Maybe too much energy expended on being in Ye Olden Times made it seem a little stiff?

Jane Austen note: On page 316 in my book (vol 3, part 6) a character uses the phrase 'pride and prejudice', which at that point would have been a reference to Cecilia, which came out in 1782. And strangely enough, on page 40 of my copy, the phrase 'sense and sensibility' is used as well. I hope I'm not to the only person who loves the 'name check game' in 18th century novels (JA is not the only one who does it).

This is a definite 'to-read' for anyone interested in gothics, historically inaccurate historical fiction or 18th century novels and female authors. Even if you don't love it, it was an influential best seller and Sir Walter Scott cribbed from it a LOT.
… (meer)
2 stem
Gemarkeerd
puglibrarian | Jul 24, 2019 |

Lijsten

Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk

Gerelateerde auteurs

Statistieken

Werken
5
Leden
98
Populariteit
#193,038
Waardering
½ 3.4
Besprekingen
1
ISBNs
15

Tabellen & Grafieken