CRITICISMS/REVIEWS
The world responded to Maria Edgeworth and her work in many different ways. Reviewers believes she is only accepted due t the appeal of didactic moralism. Her didacticism struck modern readers as gendered liability, technical regression or familial obligation. Others believed that she could have been capable of far greater things had her father not infected her with his shallow optimism. It is believed that her father edited many of her works.
Maria Edgeworth saw a definite need for children’s books to fill the literary world; and to facilitate her duties as a teacher. She created moralistic tales for children. Her tales were written with motion and sprit. They are told in the simple language of the young. She went straight to the hearts of her little readers because they could understand her work as opposed to the earlier literature that was being read. This type of literature did not cause them to have to have the help of adults. Her stories have a freshness that children are
quick to respond too. Her children tales are truly engrossing, veritable masterpieces of style and execution. Her novels will always be worth reading for their strong sense and shrewd and observant humor. She is known today for creating the regional novel; a form later popularized by Scott. She can also be recognized for a vision that produced strong heroines which influenced such later novelist such as Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot.
Not every review was as positive as the above. Critics responded to the Purple Jar in a sense of Rosamond being a poor young child that was terribly mistreated by her mother. It was stated that an “unjustifiable trick was upon her by her mother.” (Zimmern) They felt that Rosamond should have been informed the nature of the jar and then allowed to make a decision. If given all the details of the
jar and Rosamond still chose the jar then the mother’s actions are justified. Zimmern also felt that this was a part of the Edgeworth system to make misdirected or mistaken desires to stultify themselves. Maria Edgeworth’s juvenile tales reflect too much of the stiff wisdom of her age. These are not matters which children, not morally blasé remark.
The world responded to Maria Edgeworth and her work in many different ways. Reviewers believes she is only accepted due t the appeal of didactic moralism. Her didacticism struck modern readers as gendered liability, technical regression or familial obligation. Others believed that she could have been capable of far greater things had her father not infected her with his shallow optimism. It is believed that her father edited many of her works.
Maria Edgeworth saw a definite need for children’s books to fill the literary world; and to facilitate her duties as a teacher. She created moralistic tales for children. Her tales were written with motion and sprit. They are told in the simple language of the young. She went straight to the hearts of her little readers because they could understand her work as opposed to the earlier literature that was being read. This type of literature did not cause them to have to have the help of adults. Her stories have a freshness that children are
quick to respond too. Her children tales are truly engrossing, veritable masterpieces of style and execution. Her novels will always be worth reading for their strong sense and shrewd and observant humor. She is known today for creating the regional novel; a form later popularized by Scott. She can also be recognized for a vision that produced strong heroines which influenced such later novelist such as Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot.
Not every review was as positive as the above. Critics responded to the Purple Jar in a sense of Rosamond being a poor young child that was terribly mistreated by her mother. It was stated that an “unjustifiable trick was upon her by her mother.” (Zimmern) They felt that Rosamond should have been informed the nature of the jar and then allowed to make a decision. If given all the details of the
jar and Rosamond still chose the jar then the mother’s actions are justified. Zimmern also felt that this was a part of the Edgeworth system to make misdirected or mistaken desires to stultify themselves. Maria Edgeworth’s juvenile tales reflect too much of the stiff wisdom of her age. These are not matters which children, not morally blasé remark.