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Pen-portraits of literary women

by Helen Gray Cone (1859–1934)

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 8 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"Pen-Portraits of Literary Women: By Themselves and Others, Volume 1" edited by Helen Gray Cone and Jeannette L. Gilder is a collection of biographical sketches written in the late 19th century. The work seeks to highlight the lives and contributions of notable literary women, focusing on their personal traits, accomplishments, and the societal contexts in which they lived. It aims to provide readers with a deeper understanding and appreciation of these women's significance in the literary landscape. The opening of the volume presents an introduction to the first featured author, Hannah More, detailing her early life, education, and the impact of her family background. It describes her successful career as both a writer and educator, her philanthropic efforts, and notable relationships with contemporaries like Dr. Johnson. Sexual and societal expectations are explored in relation to her work, and her struggles with health and personal loss are recounted, reflecting a mix of admiration and a modern perspective on her relevance and influence as a woman in literature. The beginning sets the tone for a rich exploration of women's literary contributions, supported by historical context and personal anecdotes.

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  • Authors, English · Biography
  • Women authors, English · Biography

Read the opening

C. Kegan Paul: Prefatory Memoir to Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘Letters to: Imlay.’ London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1879

[Sidenote: Impressions of married life.]

[The family life of the Blood household, of which Mary was for a time, after her mother’s death, an inmate, was as utterly unhappy as that of the Wollstonecrafts: Mr. Blood being “a ne’er-do-well and a drunkard.” Mary was “an immediate witness” of similar and still more painful scenes in the home of her sister Eliza, who had married a Mr. Bishop, a man described by one of his own friends as “either a lion or a spaniel—” fawning abroad, tyrannical at home. I subjoin extracts from two of Mary’s letters to her other sister, Everina, which seem to me to illustrate her experience more forcibly than the narrative of her biographers.]

December, 1783.

Poor Eliza’s situation almost turns my brain. I can’t stay and see this continual misery, and to leave her to bear it by herself without anyone to comfort her, is still more distressing.... Nothing can be done till she leaves the house. I have been some time deliberating on this, for I can’t help pitying B., but misery must be his portion at any rate till he alters himself, and that would be a miracle.... I tell you she will soon be deprived of reason.

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Contents

  1. Front Matter
  2. C. Kegan Paul: Prefatory Memoir to Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘Letters to: Imlay.’ London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1879
  3. C. Kegan Paul: ‘William Godwin, His Friends and Contemporaries.’: * * * * *
  4. C. Kegan Paul: Prefatory Memoir to ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters to: Imlay.’
  5. C. Kegan Paul: Prefatory Memoir to ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters to: Imlay.’
  6. C. Kegan Paul: Prefatory Memoir to ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters to: Imlay.’
  7. C. Kegan Paul: ‘William Godwin, His Friends and Contemporaries.’: * * * * *
  8. C. Kegan Paul: ‘William Godwin, His Friends and Contemporaries.’: * * * * *

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About this edition

This free edition of Pen-portraits of literary women by Helen Gray Cone comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #69775, released 2023-01-12. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Biographies, Essays, Letters & Speeches, British Literature.

Other editions: eBook #70200 (most read).

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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