The Absentee (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Edgeworth, Maria

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019283830X ISBN 13: 9780192838308

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 2001

Synopsis

Lord Clonbrony and his ambitious, worldly wife lead an extravagant social life in London on the proceeds of their estates in Ireland. Their son, Lord Colambre, refusing to marry the heiress arranged for him by his mother, decides instead to investigate, incognito, the management of the family estates in Ireland. Appalled by the corruption, mismanagement, and poverty he discovers, he sets about finding a solution to his father's debts and the family's wilful indifference. Maria Edgeworth's classic novel combines a fast-miving depiction of national manners with a brilliantly witty expose of the pernicious system of absentee landownership.

About this title

About the Author

Although born in England in 1768, Maria Edgeworth was raised in Ireland from a young age after the death of her mother. After nearly losing her sight at age fourteen, Edgeworth was tutored at home by her father, helping to run their estate and taking charge of her younger siblings. Over the course of her life she collaborated and published books with her father, and produced many more of her own adult and children s works, including such classics as Castle Rackrent, Patronage, Belinda, Ormond and The Absentee. Edgeworth spent her entire life on the family estate, but kept up friendships and correspondences with her contemporaries Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron, and her writing had a profound influence upon Jane Austen and William Makepeace Thackeray. Edgeworth was outspoken on the issues of poverty, women s rights, and racial inequalities. During the beginnings of famine in Ireland, Edgeworth worked in relief and support of the sick and destitute. She died in 1849 at the age of 81.

From the Back Cover

Maria Edgeworth's sparkling satire about the Anglo-Irish family of an absentee landlord is also a landmark novel of morality and social realism.

The Absentee centres around Lord and Lady Clonbrony, a couple more concerned with London society than their duties and responsibilities to those who live and work on their Irish estates. Recognizing this negligence, their son Lord Colambre goes incognito to Ireland to observe the situation and trace the origins of his beloved cousin Grace. To put matters straight he finds a solution that will bring prosperity and contentment to every level of society, including his own family.

In her Introduction, Heidi Thomson explores the political and social themes of the book and place it in its historical context. With Castle Rackrent and The Absentee Maria Edgeworth helped create the 'regional' novel, rich in atmosphere and local character, and influenced writers as disparate as Scott, Thackeray and Turgenev.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019283830X
• ISBN 13: 9780192838308
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: McCormack W. J., Walker Kim