Cover image for The autobiography of Mrs. Oliphant
The autobiography of Mrs. Oliphant
Title:
The autobiography of Mrs. Oliphant
Credits:
arranged and edited by Mrs. Harry Coghill ; with a new foreword by Laurie Langbauer.
Uniform Title:
Autobiography and letters of Mrs. M.O.W. Oliphant
Additional Title(s):
Mrs. Oliphant, the autobiography.
Publication Information:
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1988.
Publication Date(s):
1988

1988,

1899
Format:
Books
Physical Description:
xxiii, 161 p. : ports. ; 22 cm.
General Note:
Spine title: Mrs. Oliphant, the autobiography.

Partial reprint. Originally published: The autobiography and letters of Mrs. M.O.W. Oliphant. New York : Dodd, Mead, 1899. Letters omitted.
Bibliography Note:
"List of Mrs. Oliphant's published works": p. [151]-154.
Description:
Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (1828-1897) was born in Wallyford, East Lothian, just outside of Edinburgh. Though she moved with her family to Liverpool in 1838, she continued to identify with her Scottish heritage, particularly the Oliphant family roots. Oliphant began writing in 1844 and continued steadily until her death in 1897. Passages in the Life of Margaret Maitland, her first published novel, appeared in 1849 and gained her some recognition as a weaver of provincial tales. Though Oliphant never earned the reputation of Charles Dickens or George Eliot, she was reputed to be Queen Victoria's favorite novelist and left a literary and critical legacy that persists today. The two themes that characterize Oliphant's life and writing are her personal sorrow and her immense literary production. Oliphant was constantly under pressure to produce for publication. As a result, she has often been criticized for producing too much too quickly, an accusation she both supports and defends against in her posthumously published Autobiography. Because of the breadth of her work, ascribing a particular set of characteristics to Oliphant's writing is difficult. However, her style, particularly in the Chronicles of Carlingford, is characterized by sharp wit and an omniscient narrator. Oliphant most often turns her eye to issues of gender and class, especially as they intersect with one another and with religion, and her attachment to her Scottish roots often surfaces in her texts through Scottish characters if not entirely Scottish settings.
Document ID:
SD_ILS:346847
Language:
English
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