Maria Edgeworth and Abolition

This Palgrave Pivot offers new readings of Maria Edgeworth's representations of slavery. By looking at how Edgeworth employed satiric technique and intertextual allusion within her generic experimentation, the book shows how Edgeworth's texts represent discourses of slavery and abolition as a litmus test of character that she invites readers to pass on their own. It aims to complicate scholarly debate about Edgeworth's representation of slavery and abolition by demonstrating how in multiple works and in various genres over the course of her career, Edgeworth repeatedly indicts hypocritical and hyperbolic misappropriation of the sentimental rhetoric that dominated the slavery debate. Her works encourage readers to evaluate abolitionist professions for their consistency with behaviour and action. The chapters each focus on a primary Edgeworth text according to her chronological engagement within the unfolding politics of slavery. They include: Whim for Whim, "The Good Aunt," Belinda, "The Grateful Negro," and "The Two Guardians" and Harry and Lucy Continued.