Charlotte Smith

Antje Blank (University of Glasgow)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806) was one of the most popular writers of the 1780s and 1790s and an influential contributor to the Revolution controversy in Britain. At the famous political dinner held at White's Hotel, Paris in November 1792, fifty revolutionary sympathisers with Thomas Paine at their head drank toasts to her and Helen Maria Williams. Fellow liberal intellectuals Mary Hays and William Godwin were among her correspondents and friends. Smith's contribution to the development of the British novel is indisputable: her Gothic romances

Emmeline

(1788),

Ethelinde

(1789), and

Celestina

(1791) are among the first examples of a feminine genre which fused narratives of persecution with lyrical landscape description. Smith's most accomplished novel,

The Old Manor House

(1793), is a…

2083 words

Citation: Blank, Antje. "Charlotte Smith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4112, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4112 Charlotte Smith 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.