Elizabeth Blower (c. 1757/1763 – post-1816) was an English poet, novelist and actress. Her earlier work comments on political, electoral and critical matters, but her two later novels are dominated by

sentiment Sentiment may refer to: *Feelings, and emotions *Public opinion, also called sentiment *Sentimentality, an appeal to shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason *Sentimental novel, an 18th-century literary genre *Market sentiment, opt ...

Lorna Sage Lorna Sage (13 January 1943 – 11 January 2001) was an English academic, literary critic and author, remembered especially for contributing to consideration of women's writing and for a memoir of her early life, '' Bad Blood'' (2000).ODNB entry ...

: ''The Cambridge Guide to Women's Writing in English'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1999), pp. 69–7
Retrieved 20 September 2015
/ref>''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English'', eds Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 108.

Life

Elizabeth Blower was born in

Worcester, England Worcester ( ) is a cathedral city in Worcestershire, England, of which it is the county town. It is south-west of Birmingham, north-west of London, north of Gloucester and north-east of Hereford. The population was 103,872 in the 2021 Cen ...

, a city then notorious for electoral violence, where her father once supported an unsuccessful independent candidate. According to a letter from

William Hayley William Hayley (9 November 174512 November 1820) was an English writer, best known as the biographer of his friend William Cowper. Biography Born at Chichester, he was sent to Eton in 1757, and to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1762; his conne ...

Anna Seward Anna Seward (12 December 1742 ld style: 1 December 1742./ref>Often wrongly given as 1747.25 March 1809) was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield. She benefited from her father's progressive views on female education. Li ...

, she took to writing when her family fell on hard times. She and a younger sister acted in Ireland for five years and in London in 1787–1788. Little more is known of her family background or personal life, but for a while, as Hayley wrote to Seward, she lived in London under the protection of the sculptor

John Flaxman John Flaxman (6 July 1755 – 7 December 1826) was a British sculptor and draughtsman, and a leading figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Early in his career, he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He spent several ye ...

Writings

Blower wrote her four novels and poetry between the ages of 17 and 25, initially publishing them anonymously. She featured in 1788 in the ''Catalogue of Five Hundred Celebrated Authors of Great Britain, Now Living''. Blower's first novel, ''The Parsonage House'' (1780) is epistolary. It casts a satirical eye over styles of fiction prominent at the time. Two years later she published some poetry and a second novel, ''George Bateman'' (1782), which includes a vivid account of electioneering, with some dialogue in dialect. This was well received as a novel and later as a stage adaptation. It includes a spirited discussion between some characters about

Frances Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...

's likewise epistolary novel ''Evelina'', then newly published.Jacqueline Pearson: "Mothering the Novel. Frances Burney and the Next Generations of Women Novelists". ''CW3 Journal'
Retrieved 20 September 2015
/ref> Her third novel, ''Maria'' (1785) follows an orphaned heroine through various vicissitudes to a decorous marriage. ''Features from Life, or a Summer Visit'' (1788) gives way to unbridled sentiment, beginning with a self-sacrifice offered by the wife to her husband. She is then betrayed and widowed, and left in deep grief. Both these later novels exemplify "Blower's skill in concocting social satire and comedies of manners." The latter follows a rural marriage "broken by the seductions of London life." Another critic has described ''Features from Life'' as "a convincing, but repellent psychological study".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blower, Elizabeth 18th-century births Year of birth uncertain 1816 deaths 18th-century English women writers 18th-century English novelists 18th-century English poets Pseudonymous women writers 18th-century English actresses Writers from Worcester, England 18th-century pseudonymous writers