Edith Oenone Somerville, The Real Charlotte

Julie Anne Stevens (Dublin City University)
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The most acclaimed novel of Irish women writers Somerville and Ross and, for some critics, the best Irish novel of the nineteenth century,

The Real Charlotte

had a less auspicious critical beginning. Some English popular magazines were disturbed by the novel’s use of the grotesque. They disliked the powerful and conniving heroine of the text, Charlotte Mullen. They could not understand why her pretty, younger cousin, Francie Fitzpatrick, did not marry the hero in the end of it all but, instead, was killed off with startling and horrifying abruptness. The novel subverts romantic conventions and details the bleak conditions of the Irish landscape with grim humour. Despite some negative criticism, the novel soon became recognised as an Irish tour de force. Lady Gregory (Martin Ross’s…

1095 words

Citation: Stevens, Julie Anne. "The Real Charlotte". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21657, accessed 19 March 2024.]

21657 The Real Charlotte 3 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.

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