Published anonymously in 1797, Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette
grabbed American interest with its ripped-from-the-headlines story of
sex and scandal. A steady best seller for decades, the seduction novel
was passed down through generations; indeed, its heroine became better
known than the book's author. A year later, Foster's lesser-known
follow-up, The Boarding School, provided an equally compelling
portrait of women at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same
epistolary form. Both novels can now be read in conversation with each
other in this new Norton Critical Edition based on the respective first
edition texts; the author's original spelling, punctuation, and usage
are retained while obvious printer's errors are corrected. The texts are
joined with a detailed introduction to Foster's legacy and Elizabeth
Whitman's life along with explanatory annotations and a note on the
text.
"Sources and Contexts" unearths a wealth of original material about the
environment the works were produced in and the real-life people who
inspired them. The three sections, "On Coquetry," "The Life and Death of
Elizabeth Whitman," and "The Nineteenth-Century Legacy," include new and
corrected transcriptions of Whitman's letters to Ruth and Joel Barlow,
an inventory of items found at Whitman's room at her death, popular
representations of Elizabeth Whitman, and unauthorized sequels to The
Coquette. Seven illustrations, including three of Eliza Wharton, are
included to enrich the reading experience.
"Criticism" brings together nine diverse contemporary interpretations.
Contributors include Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Claire C. Pettengill,
Julia A. Stern, Gillian Brown, Jeffrey H. Richards, and Gwendolyn Audrey
Foster, among others.
Chronologies of the lives of Hannah Webster Foster and Elizabeth Whitman
are included along with a Selected Bibliography.
