THE FEMALE QUIXOTE

CHARLOTTE LENNOX (c. 1729–1804) was probably born in Gibraltar, where her father, James Ramsay, a captain-lieutenant in the 14th Foot Regiment, was posted at the time. In 1739 the Ramsay family moved to New York province; shortly after her father’s death in 1742, Charlotte returned to England. Although she spent only a few years in America, she is sometimes called ‘the first American novelist’ in recognition of the American settings of her first novel The Life of Harriot Stuart (1750) and her last Euphemia (1790). She began her literary career as a poet, publishing her Poems on Several Occasions in 1747. Her most successful publication was her second novel, The Female Quixote (1752). Her influential patrons Samuel Johnson and Samuel Richardson both gave advice on the novel, and their continuing patronage underlined Lennox’s literary respectability in an era which regarded women novelists with some suspicion. The Female Quixote received positive reviews from Johnson and Henry Fielding. It influenced a number of subsequent texts, most notably Female Quixotism by Tabitha Tenney (1801).

Lennox confirmed her status as a professional writer by working in a range of genres. She wrote three plays: Philander: A Dramatic Pastoral (1757), The Sister (1769) and Old City Manners (1775), and she worked with Johnson and John Boyle to produce Shakespear Illustrated (published in 1753). Her third novel, Henrietta, appeared in 1758. Between 1755 and 1775 most of her literary work was translation. In addition, she edited and wrote for the Lady’s Museum (1760–61), which included her translations and serial publication of one of her novels. In her last years, she depended on financial assistance from the Royal Literary Fund and died in penury in Westminster on 4 January 1804.

AMANDA GILROY is Lecturer in the departments of English and American Studies at the University of Groningen, and was Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of English at Brown University, RI (2001–2; 2002–3). She has edited Epistolary Histories: Letters, Fiction, Culture (with Wil Verhoeven; 1999); Joanna Baillie: Selected Plays and Poems (with Keith Hanley; 2002); Romantic Geographies: Discourses of Travel, 1775–1844 (2000); and Jane West’s A Tale of the Times (2005).

WIL VERHOEVEN is Professor of American culture and cultural theory at the University of Groningen. In 2002–3 he held the Charles H. Watts chair in the history of the book and historical bibliography at Brown University, RI. He has edited Epistolary Histories: Letters, Fiction, Culture (with Amanda Gilroy; 1999); and Revolutionary Histories: Transatlantic Cultural Nationalism, 1775–1815 (2000). He has also published modern editions of Gilbert Imlay’s The Emigrants (with Amanda Gilroy; 1998) and George Walker’s The Vagabond (2004), and is General Editor of the 10-volume series Anti-Jacobin Novels (2005).