Castle Rackrent (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Edgeworth, Maria

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192835637 ISBN 13: 9780192835635

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1999

Synopsis

During the 1790s, with Ireland in political crisis, Maria Edgeworth made a surprisingly rebellious choice: in Castle Rackrent, her first novel, she adopted an Irish Catholic voice to narrate the decline of a family from her own Anglo-Irish class. Castle Rackrent's narrator, Thady Quirk, gives us four generations of Rackrent heirs - Sir Patrick, the dissipated spendthrift; Sir Murtagh, the litigating fiend; Sir Kit, the brutal husband and gambling absentee; and Sir Condy, the lovable and improvident dupe of Thady's own son, Jason. With this satire on Anglo-Irish landlords Edgeworth pioneered the regional novel and inspired Sir Walter Scott's Waverly (1814). She also changed the focus of conflict in Ireland from religion to class and boldly predicted the rise of the Irish Catholic Bourgeoisie.

About this title

About the Author:

Kathryn Kirkpatrick is Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Appalachian State University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0192835637
• ISBN 13: 9780192835635
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Watson George