Jane Barker Criticism
Jane Barker (1652-1732) emerges as a significant yet initially overlooked figure in English literature, paving the way for the novel's development in the early eighteenth century. Primarily recognized for her "Galesia Trilogy," Barker's work is a cornerstone in understanding the evolution of women's writing and self-definition. Her autobiographical approach offers a window into her experiences and insights, as discussed by Jane Spencer, marking her contributions to literary history as invaluable.
Barker's life was characterized by her unwavering Jacobite loyalty, conversion to Catholicism, and support for the exiled Stuart court—elements that deeply influenced her literary output. Her move to France during the political tumult of the Glorious Revolution further colored her writings, which circulated among James II's followers. Historical reassessments by scholars like King and Medoff have provided a nuanced understanding of her narrative authenticity and personal history.
With an education in Latin and philosophy, Barker's intellectual inquiries are reflected in her earliest work, Poetical Recreations, and extend to themes of morality and social conduct in Exilius. Her poetry and prose, especially the Galesia Trilogy, delve into the educational and emotional challenges faced by women, as explored by Toni Bowers. These works underscore her literary ambitions amidst a backdrop of political uncertainty.
Barker's narrative style is noted for its realism and modernistic nuances, often leaving conflicts unresolved, as highlighted by Josephine Grieder. Her ability to intertwine personal experience with broader societal themes is evident in her semi-autobiographical novels, capturing attention with their introspective and psychological depth, praised by critics such as Margaret Anne Doody.
Although initially overshadowed, Barker's reputation has been revitalized by feminist scholarship in the late twentieth century, revealing her importance in the history of women's literature. Her interactions with both male and female intellectuals of her era, as noted by Kathryn R. King, challenge traditional perceptions of women writers. The critical reception of her work continues to evolve, ensuring Barker's place in the literary canon as a pioneer who captured the complexities of her time and enriched the genre of the novel.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Barker, Jane (Vol. 80)
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Creating the Women Writer: The Autobiographical Works of Jane Barker
(summary)
In the following essay, Spencer claims that Barker's main concerns were to define herself as a woman and as a writer and to create for herself and her audience an acceptable self-image. Spencer also states that Barker's works are especially important to those interested in the history of women's writing and women's self-definition because they seem to be largely autobiographical.
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Jane Barker
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Spencer claims that, throughout her work, Barker is concerned with the creation of her self-portrait as a woman and a writer.
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Jane Barker and Her Life (1652-1732): The Documentary Record
(summary)
In the following essay, King and Medoff offer an account of the life of Barker that contrasts with the biography that has been erroneously reconstructed from her fictional works.
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Jacobite Difference and the Poetry of Jane Barker
(summary)
In the following essay, Bowers examines the poetry of Barker, a staunch Jacobite, to argue against the myth of Jacobite certainty, as the poet shows disappointment, uncertainty, and dark regret in her political choices despite her loyalty to the royalist cause.
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The Poems of Jane Barker: The Magdalen Manuscript
(summary)
In the following essay, King claims that the Magdalen manuscript of Barker's poems is particularly important for the glimpse it affords into Barker's writing life and her evolution as an artist; for the light it sheds on seventeenth-century English Catholicism, early Jacobitism, spiritual autobiography, and women's writing; and for the oppositions it discloses between public/private and political/domestic in writings about politics and affairs of state.
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Barker and the Tree of Knowledge at Cambridge University
(summary)
In the following essay, Fitzmaurice examines the 1723 version of Barker's poem “An Invitation to my friends at Cambridge” to show that later in life the author was not as enamored of the opinions of academic men as she had been as a younger woman, because she saw the limitations of worldly knowledge and no longer felt she needed to justify her lack of formal education.
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A Jacobite Novelist
(summary)
In the following essay, King tells the story of Barker as a Jacobite novelist, showing the connections between the plots of her novels and the political activities and ideologies of the Stuart court.
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Creating the Women Writer: The Autobiographical Works of Jane Barker
(summary)
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Barker, Jane (Vol. 42)
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General Learning and Literary Work
(summary)
In the following excerpt, first published in 1920 and reprinted in 1964, Reynolds contends that Barker's novels explore the same material covered earlier in her verse. Reynolds also considers some of the circumstances of Barker's life that are revealed through her character Galesia.
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Edmund Curll, Mrs. Jane Barker, and the English Novel
(summary)
Below, McBurney discusses the effect the infamous publisher Edmund Curll had upon the popularity of Barker's romance novels.
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Introduction to Exilius, or the Banish'd Roman
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In the following essay, Grieder divides early-eighteenth-century women's writings into two categories: one type salacious and gossipy, the other moralistic and didactic. The critic contends that Exilius, which fits into the latter group, stresses that conforming to societal expectations must supersede one's personal passion.
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Introduction to The Prude: A Novel by a Young Lady
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In the excerpt below, Grieder praises A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies for the historical importance of its authentic descriptions of ordinary life; its atypical heroine, Galesia; and its modernistic conclusion, which leaves some narrative conflicts unresolved.
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Deserts, Ruins, and Troubled Waters: Female Dreams in Fiction and the Development of the Gothic Novel
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In the following excerpt, Doody elaborates on ways that Barker's descriptions of the dreams of her female characters emphasize the women's unheroic and subjective lives.
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Jane Barker (1652-1727)
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Williamson examines some of the ironies of Barker's poetry, as well as the patterns found in Barker's novels which give advice for women regarding courting.
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Galesia, Jane Barker, and a Coming to Authorship
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In the following essay, King examines what A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies reveals concerning Barker's anxieties about the public's reception of her writing.
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The Unaccountable Wife and Other Tales of Female Desire in Jane Barker's A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies
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In the following essay, King discusses female-female relationships depicted in A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies. She notes that what may have been intended by Barker as a warning to women who experience same-sex desires can instead be interpreted as criticism of a patriarchal society.
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Jane Barker, Political Recreations, and the Sociable Text
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In the essay that follows, King explores Barker's participation in a complex literary community that also included men.
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General Learning and Literary Work
(summary)
- Further Reading