First published in the turbulent decade following the French Revolution,
Memoirs of Emma Courtney is based on Mary Hays' own passionate
struggle with romance and Enlightenment philosophy. A feminist and
ardent disciple of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hays reveals the lamentable gap
between `what women are' and `what woment ought to be'.
The novel is one of the most articulate and detailed expressions of the
yearnings and frustrations of a woman living in late eighteenth-century
English society. It questions marital arrangements and courtship rituals
by depicting a woman who actively pursues the man she loves. The novel
explores the links between sexuality, desire, and economic and social
freedom, suggesting the need for improvement in the laws of society
which `have enslaved, enervated, and degraded woman'.
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