Maria Edgeworth, Ennui

Sharon Jude Murphy (St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra)
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Ennui

was published as part of the 1809 series of Maria Edgeworth's

Tales of Fashionable Life

, and a leading reviewer of the day, Francis Jeffrey, declared it to be probably “the best and the most entertaining” of the collection: “The Irish characters are inimitable; – not the caricatures of modern playwrights – but drawn with a spirit, and delicacy, and a precision, to which we do not know if there be any parallel among national delineations” (

Edinburgh Review

, vol. xiv [1809], 379). Jeffrey's review of

Ennui

was largely echoed by other readers and critics; the work went in a fourth edition by 1813 and, with

The Absentee

(1812), helped to establish Edgeworth's reputation as the pre-eminent writer of the early nineteenth century.

As one of the tales written “to point out

1400 words

Citation: Murphy, Sharon Jude. "Ennui". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21656, accessed 06 October 2024.]

21656 Ennui 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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