Anne Burke (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1780-1805) was an Irish novelist in the Gothic genre. She was one of the earliest women writers of

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

Life and work

Anne Burke had been a governess and was widowed with a son. She took up writing to support herself and her family. Becoming a writer did not provide the wealth she had hoped for. She applied for relief several times to the

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

from whom she received a total of 13 guineas. As a governess she hoped to set up a school despite having had to nurse her son through

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. She wrote multiple successful novels in the Gothic style, though she was known too for her melodramatic style. Her novel ''Adela Northington'' was just one of the huge rise in numbers of new publications in 1796. It was a huge jump from the previous year.
''Ela: or The Delusions of the Heart'' was one of the books translated into multiple other languages. It was reprinted several times. This book may have been an influence on

Ann Radcliffe Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English novelist and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining respectability for G ...

’s '' The Romance of the Forest''. She is sometimes considered one of the key Irish authors in the development of Gothic fiction along with

Regina Maria Roche Regina Maria Roche (1764–1845) is considered a minor Gothic novelist, encouraged by the pioneering Ann Radcliffe. However, she was a bestselling author in her own time. The popularity of her third novel, ''The Children of the Abbey'', rivalled ...

, Mrs F. C. Patrick,

Anna Millikin Anna Millikin (19 January 1764 – at least 1849) was a teacher and author of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She was one of the earliest Irish women to write Gothic novels and established the literary periodical the ''Casket or Hesp ...

, Catharine Selden, Marianne Kenley, and Sydney Owenson (later Lady Morgan)

Critical reception

English Review /JAS, 1796 p377 ''

Adela Northington; a Novel. In Three Volumes. By Mrs. Burke. pp. 414. 12mo. 10s. boards. Cawthorn, Strand. London, 1796. We wish it came within the limits of this publication to relate the story of Adela Northington, and do justice to its author. We recommend it for its lively fancy and flowing style; proper, impressive, and animated, without affectation. There are many parts of this work that will draw the tear of sensibility; at the same time that there are others that will amuse the more lively reader. The whole is much superior to any thing of the kind that had lately come into our hands before we read nchbald's Nature and Art, likewise here reviewed

'' Monthly Magazine / JAS, 1801 vol. 11 (1801): 606. ''

Mr icBurke's 'Elliot, or, the Vicissitudes of Early Life,' is a well-written and pathetic narration.

'' Burke is one of the "lost" women writers listed by

Dale Spender Dale Spender (born 22 September 1943)''The Bibliography of Australian Literature: P–Z'' edited by John Arnold, John Hay (page 409). is an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant. In 1983, Dale Spender was co-founder of an ...

in '' Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers Before Jane Austen''.

Bibliography

* ''Ela; or, The Delusions of the Heart'', 1787 * ''Emilia de St. Aubigne'', 1788 * ''Adela Northington'', 1796 * ''The Sorrows of Edith'', 1796 * ''Elliott; or, Vicissitudes of Early Life'', 1800 * ''The Secret of the Cavern'', 1805

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, Anne 18th-century Irish women writers 18th-century Irish writers 19th-century Irish women writers 19th-century Irish writers Women romantic fiction writers Irish romantic fiction writers Irish novelists Irish women novelists Women horror writers Irish horror writers Writers of Gothic fiction