Sister novelists : the trailblazing Porter sisters, who paved the way for Austen and the Brontës

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Looser, Devoney, 1967-

Physical Description:

xx, 555 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates ; 25 cm.

Summary:

"Before the Brontë sisters picked up their pens, or Jane Austen's heroines Elizabeth and Jane Bennet became household names, the literary world was celebrating a different pair of sisters: Jane and Anna Maria Porter. The Porters--exact contemporaries of Jane Austen--were brilliant, attractive, self-made single women of polite reputation who between them published twenty-six books and achieved global fame. They socialized among the rich and famous, tried to hide their family's considerable debt, and fell dramatically in and out of love. Their moving letters to each other confess every detail. Because the celebrity sisters expected their renown to live on, they preserved their papers, and the secrets they contained, for any biographers to come. But history hasn't been kind to the Porters. Credit for their literary invention was given to their childhood friend, Sir Walter Scott, who never publicly acknowledged his debt to their ideas. With Scott's more prolific publication and even greater renown, the Porter sisters gradually fell from the pinnacle of celebrity to eventual obscurity. Now, Professor Devoney Looser, a Guggenheim fellow in English Literature, sets out to re-introduce the world to the authors who cleared the way for Austen, Mary Shelley, and the Brontë sisters. Capturing the Porter sisters' incredible rise, from when Anna Maria published her first book at age fourteen in 1793, through to Jane's fall from prominence in the Victorian era, and then to the auctioning off for a pittance of the family's massive archive, Sister Novelists is a groundbreaking and enthralling biography of two pioneering geniuses in historical fiction"--

Contents:

Prologue: Two sisters of blazing genius -- Five fatherless Porter children (1779-90) -- London's Covent Garden and Maria's teenage tales (1790-96) -- Two girls masquerading as society gentlemen : Jane's and Maria's early fictions and the Caulfield brothers (1794-97) -- In spite of the prudish world : the sister novelists and the great historical picture (1798-1800) -- Cut my heart : Jane and Maria's rival mentors (1798-1801) -- Gone theatrical mad : Maria's plays, Jane's new romance, and the enchanting Kembles (1801) -- "The fire! The splendour!" : Maria's opera, Jane's bestseller, and the war hero, Sir Sidney Smith (1802-3) -- Hearts and darts : Maria's sighing soldier (1803-4) -- How wild is the world : celebrity Jane's suitors and a defense of crim. con. (1804) -- Taking up a rose with the left hand : the Porter women secretly retrench, as Jane is nearly buried alive (1804-5) -- Where the scale turns : Jane's warring passions and Robert's Russian adventures (1805-7) --Finally in his arms : the return of Maria's sighing soldier (1805-9) -- He must be closed up : the end of Jane's Henry (1807-9) -- Champagne, orange juice, and the Margravine : Maria's year of luxury and love (1809) -- Family misfortunes and Jane's Scottish chiefs (1810) -- Horror princess : Russians in Britain, Maria's Recluse, and Jane's redoubled fame (1811-14) -- Monstrous literary vampires : Jane and Maria, after Walter Scott (1814-16) -- Beware of imagination : Jane's pastor, Maria's two novels, and Colonel Dan (1816-18) -- Played by Kean : Jane's dramas at the Drury Lane Theatre (1817-19) -- Tortured for others : Maria, Jane, and the royal librarian (1819-24) -- Strange, unworthy brother : Jane and Maria publish together and William writes away (1824-31) -- Separating sisters : a pitiless and cold-blooded plan (1831-32) -- Preserve and destroy : Jane's friends and enemies (1832-40) -- Her younger self again : Jane and Robert reunited (1841-42) --A chair of one's own (1842-50) -- Coda : Three or four closely packed sea chests : the historic, confused, and unsorted Porter correspondence (after 1850).

Subject Term:

Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography.

Historical fiction -- Authorship.

Publication Info:

New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022.

Subject:

Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography.

Historical fiction -- Authorship.

Porter, Jane, 1776-1850

Porter, Anna Maria, 1778-1832

Porter, Miss (Jane), 1776-1850

Lady, 1776-1850

Author of Thaddeus of Warsaw, 1776-1850

Thaddeus of Warsaw, Author of, 1776-1850

Historical novels

History -- Fiction

SAILS ISBN:

9781635575293

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Norfolk Public Library	820.5 LOOS	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

For readers of Prairie Fires and The Peabody Sisters , a fascinating, insightful biography of the most famous sister novelists before the Brontës.

Before the Brontë sisters picked up their pens, or Jane Austen's heroines Elizabeth and Jane Bennet became household names, the literary world was celebrating a different pair of sisters: Jane and Anna Maria Porter. The Porters-exact contemporaries of Jane Austen-were brilliant, attractive, self-made single women of polite reputation who between them published 26 books and achieved global fame. They socialized among the rich and famous, tried to hide their family's considerable debt, and fell dramatically in and out of love. Their moving letters to each other confess every detail. Because the celebrity sisters expected their renown to live on, they preserved their papers, and the secrets they contained, for any biographers to come.

But history hasn't been kind to the Porters. Credit for their literary invention was given to their childhood friend, Sir Walter Scott, who never publicly acknowledged the sisters' works as his inspiration. With Scott's more prolific publication and even greater fame, the Porter sisters gradually fell from the pinnacle of celebrity to eventual obscurity. Now, Professor Devoney Looser, a Guggenheim fellow in English Literature, sets out to re-introduce the world to the authors who cleared the way for Austen, Mary Shelley, and the Brontë sisters. Capturing the Porter sisters' incredible rise, from when Anna Maria published her first book at age 14 in 1793, through to Jane's fall from the pinnacle of fame in the Victorian era, and then to the auctioning off for a pittance of the family's massive archive, Sister Novelists is a groundbreaking and enthralling biography of two pioneering geniuses in historical fiction.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Critic Looser (The Making of Jane Austen) covers in this mostly solid survey the life and work of two "forgotten" literary sisters, Jane Porter (1776--1850) and Anna Maria Porter (1780--1832). Jane Austen's contemporaries, the two were bestselling authors in their time, publishing 30 books between them. Looser positions them as pioneers of the historical novel (a genre usually said to be created by Sir Walter Scott), shows them freely mixing in London's artistic and theatrical circles, and describes how later, burdened by their brothers' debts, Jane, Anna Maria, and their mother lived in increasing poverty. History hasn't been kind to the sisters, Looser writes: "As the nineteenth century turned to the twentieth, and the fame of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters grew, Jane and Maria Porter's names gradually faded out of literary histories." The author draws on their voluminous correspondence, which she calls perhaps "their greatest masterpiece," and offers plenty of insights into late-18th- and 19th-century social history. Though she's a strong writer, Looser can sometimes get caught up in the details, slowing the pace. Even so, fans of the era's literature will appreciate the light Looser shines on these lesser-known figures. Agent: Stacey Glick; Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)

Kirkus Review

Buried for 200 years, the story of the indomitable Porter sisters comes to light. Household names in their time, these forgotten Regency novelists have gained an effective champion in Jane Austen biographer and scholar Looser, who points out that Jane and Anna Maria's "real-life adventures read like funhouse-mirror versions of Austen's famous characters and plots." The author sets a tale of talent, relentless hard work, and a profound sisterly bond against grueling physical privation, financial insecurity, disappointments in love, and betrayals by family. While one sister sat scribbling at home to produce the every-other-year novels that allowed them to barely support themselves and their mother, the other would cobble together a string of houseguest opportunities with friends of the family. Their brother, Robert, was a successful historical painter and married into the Russian royal family, but he was such a spendthrift that Jane spent most of her life and much of her income dealing with his debts. Though Looser doesn't claim that the sisters' oeuvre would interest modern readers, she argues that they pioneered the historical novel and that their achievement was pirated by their childhood friend Sir Walter Scott. Jane stewed about this for years, ultimately speaking out via a sharp parody. Anna Maria's temperament was more placid. "To be happy, not celebrated, is my aim," she wrote to Jane, "whether I become so by making a pudding or making a Book, it is all one to me." Looser has ferreted out many wonderful lines from the vast correspondence between the sisters, which was lost to history for a century when purchased by a "literary hoard[er]" shortly after Jane's death, an act that "had the effect of shutting up the sisters' larger-than-life stories in a dusty castle, like a Gothic novel's captive heroines." From the 1950s to the '70s, the manuscripts were exhumed, divided into lots and sold around the world. Looser puts it all together at last. A triumph of literary detective work and storytelling, this is a must-read for the Austen and Brontë crowd. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Before Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters came Jane and Anna Maria Porter. Despite their considerable literary output and renown (Anna Maria's first book was published in 1793, when she was only 14), this pair of siblings, friends of Sir Walter Scott, abruptly lost favor and were soon forgotten, relegated to the shadows of history. Guggenheim fellow Looser earnestly attempts to revive interest in them with this robust portrait of the Porters and the milieu in which they lived and wrote. The sisters came from a hardscrabble family and turned to writing to make a living. Both sisters were witty and winsome, found and lost love, and remained single. They were prolific, producing 26 books between them, and achieved international readership and fame. But the wealth they earned was spent freeing their brothers from debt, and the productive sisters died destitute. They were among the first historical novelists, while the romanticism of their stories was inspired by their world. Looser plunges into the Porter sisters' letters and excavates their lives to pull them out of obscurity and restore their legacy.

Choice Review

In this groundbreaking study, Looser (Arizona State Univ.) provides a double biography of sisters Jane Porter (1776--1850) and Anna Maria Porter (1778--1832), important authors whose place in literary history has been neglected. Whereas Walter Scott has been traditionally credited with inventing historical fiction, Looser demonstrates how the innovative Porter sisters first developed the genre and how their careers helped pave the way for later female authors. Drawing on the sisters' unpublished letters, Looser constructs a compelling narrative of the Porters' personal and professional struggles and triumphs. She highlights the difficult material realities for female authors and describes how these sisters, famous in their day, wrote for economic survival and learned to navigate the literary marketplace. Providing well-selected details and pertinent historical and cultural context, this book often reads like a gripping novel itself. This resemblance is surely no coincidence. Looser contends (in the prologue) that the Porters' "letters proved a training ground ... for practicing the craft of novel-writing," and she convincingly argues for the importance of the sisters' correspondence in providing a detailed, realistic, and captivating depiction of Romantic-era Britain. This significant study will be of great interest to those interested not only in the Porter sisters but also in Romantic-era literary history. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty --Daniel David Schierenbeck, Immanuel Lutheran College

Prologue: Two Sisters of Blazing Genius	p. ix
1 Five Fatherless Porter Children (1779-90)	p. 1
2 London's Covent Garden and Maria's Teenage Tales (1790-96)	p. 19
3 Two Girls Masquerading as Society Gentlemen: Jane's and Maria's Early Fictions and the Caulfield Brothers (1794-97)	p. 34
4 In Spite of the Prudish World: The Sister Novelists and the Great Historical Picture (1798-1800)	p. 49
5 Cut My Heart: Jane and Maria's Rival Mentors (1798-1801)	p. 68
6 Gone Theatrical Mad: Maria's Plays, Jane's New Romance, and the Enchanting Kembles (1801)	p. 83
7 "The Fire! The Splendour!": Maria's Opera, Jane's Bestseller, and the War Hero, Sir Sidney Smith (1801-3)	p. 117
8 Hearts and Darts: Maria's Sighing Soldier (1803-4)	p. 135
9 How Wild Is the World: Celebrity Jane's Suitors and a Defense of Crim. Con. (1804)	p. 153
10 Taking up a Rose with the Left Hand: The Porter Women Secretly Retrench, as Jane Is Nearly Buried Alive (1804-5)	p. 175
11 Where the Scale Turns: Jane's Warring Passions and Robert's Russian Adventures (1805-7)	p. 196
12 Finally in His Arms: The Return of Maria's Sighing Soldier (1805-9)	p. 212
13 He Must Be Closed Up: The End of Jane's Henry (1807-9)	p. 231
14 Champagne, Orange Juice, and the Margravine: Maria's Year of Luxury and Love (1809)	p. 246
15 Family Misfortunes and Jane's Scottish Chiefs (1810)	p. 276
16 Horror Princess: Russians in Britain, Maria's Recluse, and Jane's Redoubled Fame (1811-14)	p. 288
17 Monstrous Literary Vampires: Jane and Maria, After Walter Scott (1814-16)	p. 306
18 Beware of Imagination: Jane's Pastor, Maria's Two Novels, and Colonel Dan (1816-18)	p. 320
19 Played by Kean: Jane's Dramas at the Drury Lane Theatre (1817-19)	p. 338
20 Tortured for Others: Maria, Jane, and the Royal Librarian (1819-24)	p. 351
21 Strange, Unworthy Brother: Jane and Maria Publish Together and William Writes Away (1824-31)	p. 368
22 Separating Sisters: A Pitiless and Cold-Blooded Plan (1831-32)	p. 390
23 Preserve and Destroy: Jane's Friends and Enemies (1832-40)	p. 402
24 Her Younger Self Again: Jane and Robert Reunited (1841-41)	p. 416
25 A Chair of One's Own (1842-50)	p. 428
Coda: Three or Four Closely Packed Sea Chests: The Historic, Confused, and Unsorted Porter Correspondence (After 1850)	p. 437
Acknowledgments	p. 445
Major Works of Jane and Anna Maria Porter	p. 447
List of Illustrations	p. 449
Notes	p. 452
Index	p. 539

Available:

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Choice Review

Table of Contents