First published in the turbulent decade following the French Revolution, Memoirs of Emma Courtney is based on Mary Hays' own passionate struggle with romance and Enlightenment philosophy. A feminist and ardent disciple of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hays reveals the lamentable gap between `what women are' and `what woment ought to be'. The novel is one of the most articulate and detailed expressions of the yearnings and frustrations of a woman living in late eighteenth-century English society. It questions marital arrangements and courtship rituals by depicting a woman who actively pursues the man she loves. The novel explores the links between sexuality, desire, and economic and social freedom, suggesting the need for improvement in the laws of society which `have enslaved, enervated, and degraded woman'.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Product Description: This edition pairs Mary Hays's Memoirs of Emma Courtney (1796) with Amelia Alderson Opie's Adeline Mowbray; or the Mother and the Daughter (1804). Emma Courtney represents the radical side of the debates in England about appropriate behavior for women in love at the end of the eighteenth century...read more

Brought up as a Christian Scientist, Charlotte McGuffey begins to challenge her lifelong beliefs after the death of her estranged husband, embarking on a journey to the family's Vermont summer home to uncover answers about his final days and encountering a host of concerned neighbors and an unlikely suitor, a charismatic and unconventional artist. A first novel. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

Product Description: Mary Hays is known for her literary works and as a formidable member of radical circles in the late eighteenth century. Her letters help the reader understand the extent of her engagement with contemporary issues and how these were voiced in her writings...read more

Product Description: Mary Hays was an outspoken Radical intellectual in the turbulent decade of the 1790’s. She argued vehemently for the need to recognise the moral and rational qualities of women, the necessity of a better system of education for girls, and the importance of giving women without fortunes a career without ‘servitude in prostitution...read more

Product Description: Mary Hays was an outspoken Radical intellectual in the turbulent decade of the 1790's. She argued vehemently for the need to recognise the moral and rational qualities of women, the necessity of a better system of education for girls, and the importance of giving women without fortunes a career without 'servitude in prostitution...read more