Lucinda (novel)

Lucinda; or, The Mountain Mourner is an epistolary novel by P. D. Manvill (1764–1849), first published in 1807. A bestseller at the time, it was widely distributed and went through numerous editions.[1]

In Lucinda, the eponymous protagonist is raped, becomes pregnant, descends into poverty, and dies shortly after giving birth.[2] Booher classifies Lucinda as a work of sentimental fiction.[3] In particular, following Nina Baym, she describes it as a "novel of seduction", in which the female protagonist becomes pregnant and comes to a tragic end as a result.[3] Cathy Davidson, following Helen Papashvily, argues that Lucinda marks an end of the seduction plot in American literature—with Hester Prynne as one outlier in this regard.[4]

Booher likens Lucinda to The Coquette (1797), noting that both works are preoccupied with the protagonist's so-called virtue, or abstinence from premarital sex.[5]

The work is set in upstate New York, in Saratoga Springs and near Marcellus.[6]

Notes
  1. Booher, Mischelle (2003). "Mrs. P. D. Manvill and The Feminist Companion: Some Corrections". ANQ. 16 (3): 26–27. doi:10.1080/08957690309598211. ISSN 0895-769X.
  2. Anderson 2010, p. 301.
  3. Booher 2007, pp. 285–286.
  4. Davidson, Cathy N. (1980). "Mothers and Daughters in the Fiction of the New Republic". In Davidson, Cathy N.; Broner, E. M. (eds.). The Lost Tradition: Mothers and Daughters in Literature. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company. p. 125. OCLC 1036694352.
  5. Booher 2007, p. 287.
  6. "Recent Acquisitions". The Courant. Syracuse University Library. 11: 9. 2010. ISSN 1554-267X.

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Further reading
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