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Mary Hays
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Memoirs of Emma Courtney Paperback – 28 May 2009

by Hays (Author)
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 44 ratings
Edition: Reissue
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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 widest range 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, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199555400
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199555406
  3. Edition
    Reissue
  4. Publisher
    Oxford University Press UK
  5. Publication date
    28 May 2009
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    19.51 x 13.21 x 1.3 cm
  8. Print length
    272 pages
  9. See all details
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Product description

Review

the editions deserve great credit for the enthusiasm of their approach ... The introductions by eminent scholars put the thoughts of the author and the history of the time into clear perspective. Oxford should be given credit for making the classics accessible for all rather than just crib notes for students. ― Jonathan Copeland, Lincolnshire Echo

Review

`the editions deserve great credit for the enthusiasm of their approach ... The introductions by eminent scholars put the thoughts of the author and the history of the time into clear perspective. Oxford should be given credit for making the classics accessible for all rather than just crib notes for students.' Jonathan Copeland, Lincolnshire Echo

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press UK; Reissue edition (28 May 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199555400
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199555406
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 years and up
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.51 x 13.21 x 1.3 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 44 ratings

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Mary Hays

Mary Hays

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3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
44 global ratings

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Martina Thomaschewski
3.0 out of 5 stars IMPRESSIONS ANS SENSIBILITY
Reviewed in Germany on 16 November 2017
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A very interesting book in regards To 18th century Feminism, but to my mind a little too emotional and exaggerated.
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Kylie
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!
Reviewed in the United States on 15 February 2013
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Easy to read and interesting, I was reading chapters ahead of where we were in class and continued reading past the required pages. It really sucks you in and holds your attention. Loved it!
3 people found this helpful
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Luca Graziuso
4.0 out of 5 stars The Chaos and Tragedy of Being a Woman
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2012
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Mary Hays' "Memoirs of Emma Courtney" is a very subtle book which communicates ideas on empiricism, reason and gender in ways that on a first blush may seem dated yet untimely, but which go beyond even the more unconventional views of her time...and ours. The fervor of the novel reaches its apex when while addressing her lover Emma finds herself reproached for wishing misery upon herself by torturing her independence and constitution with passions that are fanciful and peculiar to the romantic ideals woman are reared to entertain. Her lover, Augustus Harley, chides her for consenting to resign her hopes of happiness upon such sensational affairs. Her response canvasses some of the most distinguished and complex elocutions on the nature of identity, the striving for happiness, and the insuppressable desire to share the pleasures of the intellect and the heart with another. The perverse struggles she contends with is one where reason and sensibility become beset by passions which are cultivated by experience and education alike. She is not your typical women and she is charged with lacking the heroic temper that is necessary to rationalize and live as if she were a stoic detached enlightened machine. She refuses to allow for that and suffers all-the-more because of it. It is precicely in this struggle that her identity becomes consolidated and eventually unravels - her inability to understand why the heart makes of her a dupe, and why such foolishness is impossible to supress. There are many novels of the 18th century by women that rehash this theme but none do so (and that includes Jane Austen) with the same force and violence that affects the internal struggle Emma Courtney suffers. The way she expresses herself and the way she denies herself are implicated in a romantic mystique which she cannot find peace through. The wit of the protagonist is sensible and untamed - even her scandalous claim that soldiers are murderers (while privy to a conversation on the salve trade) offers wisdom that she feels she must not apologize for if only she speaks in consonance with the labors of reason. She is obviously repudiated for her effrontery and so on and so on, but it all serves to establish a starker contrast with the foolish flights of the heart which go nowhere and take the intellect wherever they flee.
The book caused a scandal for among other things its description of infanticide and suicide. Correctly a dissatisfied reviewer has intimating that the novel rushes to its close with melodramatic excesses, but this is fitting in so that it precipitously overstates the destructive forces of passion. That the novel has glaring stylistic faults is undoubted. It does however provide a narrrative that entertains and rivets our interests by several ploys and deveices which are particular to 18th century novels. It is a book that should be read for its literary values (which are commendable relatively speaking) and as a historical document which contextualizes the philosophical, social and gender-specific debates of its time.
Of the publications in print 3 are of note: The Oxford which is annotated sufficiently; the Broadview which traces the history of its construction and ideas by reprinting correspondences with Godwin and abetted by other writings of Hays; College Publishing also has published the book in conjunction with Adeline Mowbray (by Amelia Opie) and the narrative in this case is interspersed with brief descriptions and inscriptions that clarify the text but which make it feel more like a textbook than a novel. The cult of Jane Austen is still very strong, but this novel gives us a less structured and less aesthetically compact understanding of what really went through the mind of a woman who hoped to think for herself - in essence Emma Courtney is none-too-sure what that means and yet she tries to make sense of it...
11 people found this helpful
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marium
2.0 out of 5 stars Quality was not good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 January 2013
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I am satisfied with the quality of the book, the pages were turned from the sides, so I am not happy with it.
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Rionach O'Donnell
1.0 out of 5 stars Typos
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2018
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This is an unreadable version with horrendous typos the whole way through
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