Ann Yearsley was an English poet, playwright, and novelist who lived most of her life in a village near Bristol. Though she began her adult life as a milkwoman she later became the chief support of her family through her writing and proprietorship of a circulating library. This literary biography offers the most thoroughly researched and reasoned account to date of the complex political and social causes of Yearsley's gradual exclusion from the annals of literature. Yearsley published her first volume of poetry in 1785 with the support of Hannah More and other members of the "Bluestocking" circle, who regarded her as something of a primitive savant. Soon thereafter, however, Yearsley broke with her patrons in a bitter dispute regarding the book's profits. Although condemned for ingratitude by More and her friends, Yearsley continued to publish with the support of more liberal members of the establishment. Nevertheless, the more conservative counsels prevailed as events in France from 1789 demonstrated the dangers of popular political agitation. Although Yearsley consistently rejected such activity, her perceived status tended to label her at least potentially subversive. Consequently, most commentary on her work during her later writing life and the century after her death portrayed her primarily as the ungrateful protégée of the more acceptable More, and mistakenly associated her with such avowed radicals as Mary Wollstonecraft. Although present-day Marxist and feminist theorists deserve much credit for revitalizing interest in Yearsley, says Mary Waldron, the writer has often been just as misrepresented or misunderstood by her modern champions, being celebrated for the very qualities or tendencies erroneously attributed to her by earlier readers and critics. With the publication of this broad literary-historical study, a more complete picture of Yearsley, as an individual and on her own terms, emerges.
The collection is in honor of Mary Waldron, a founder member of the Women's Studies Group, whose distinguished scholarship is exemplified in the first chapter, and whose generous encouragement of other specialists in feminist studies in the long eighteenth century.
Free to Believe investigates the protection for freedom of conscience and religion the first of the fundamental freedoms listed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its interpretation in the courts. Through an examination of decided cases that touches on the most controversial issues of our day, such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and minority religious practices, Mary Anne Waldron examines how the law has developed in the way that it has, the role that freedom of conscience and religion play in our society, and the role it could play in making it a more open, peaceful, and democratic place. While the range of cases explored will be of interest to scholars, Free to Believe is also written in an accessible style, with legal terms and concepts explained for those who wish to learn accurate, detailed information about the impact of the law on contemporary social policy issues. As such, this book widens the debate about this fundamental freedom and the influence of public opinion on what is often a misrepresented and misunderstood issue.
This book presents Jane Austen as a radical innovator. It explores the nature of her confrontation with the popular novelists of her time, and demonstrates how her challenge to them transformed fiction. It is evident from letters and other sources, as well as the novels themselves, that the Austen family developed a strong scepticism about contemporary notions of the proper content and purpose of fiction. Austen's own writing can be seen as a conscious demonstration of these disagreements. In thus identifying her literary motivation, this book (moving away from the questions of ideology which have so dominated Austen studies in this century) offers a unifying critique of the novels and helps to explain their unequalled durability with the reading public.
A whimsical tale about the night the northern lights danced across the silversmith's table. What happens when the fork, knife and spoon come to life on this magical night?" -- Page [4] cover.
Many years ago a young Irish lass named Mara was walking in the woods when she came upon a leprechaun named Sean, busily gathering shamrocks and singing a happy song: "A shamrock is a wonderful flower; With three little leaves it has much power. A lifetime of happiness, ya must agree, Means everything good comes in cycles of three" Sean presented the beautiful bouquet of shamrocks to Mara who was soon to be married. He told her to remember the words to his song and pass it on from one generation to another. Mara kept her promise to Sean by telling new brides about the magic of the shamrock and it become a tradition to carry shamrocks to the alter. Years later, Mara's great-granddaughter, Colleen, was to be married on St. Patrick's Day. To continue the tradition, she went for a walk to gather shamrocks for her bouquet. She searched and searched but couldn't find a single shamrock. Distraught and crying, she heard a wee voice. Could it be Sean the leprechaun? Could he help Colleen find the shamrocks? Will a surprise gift begin a new tradition?
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