''Castle Rackrent'' is a short novel by

Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and a significant figure in the evolution of the novel i ...

published in

1800 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 18), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 12 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 16), ...

. Unlike many of her other novels, which were heavily "edited" by her father,

Richard Lovell Edgeworth Richard Lovell Edgeworth (31 May 1744 – 13 June 1817) was an Anglo-Irish politician, writer and inventor. He had 22 children. Biography Edgeworth was born in Pierrepont Street, Bath, England, son of Richard Edgeworth senior, and great ...

, before their publication, the published version is close to her original intention. Shortly before its publication, an introduction, glossary and footnotes, written in the voice of an English narrator, were added to the original text to blunt the negative impact the Edgeworths feared the book might have on English enthusiasm for the

Act of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of G ...

. One of the main sources of inspiration for the novel was a chronicle of her own family history called ''The Black Book of Edgeworthstown,'' which contain legal struggles of the Edgeworth's similar to those portrayed in the novel.

Plot summary

The novel is set prior to the

Constitution of 1782 The Constitution of 1782 was a group of Acts passed by the Parliament of Ireland and the Parliament of Great Britain in 1782–83 which increased the legislative and judicial independence of the Kingdom of Ireland by reducing the ability of t ...

. It tells the story of four generations of Rackrent heirs through their steward, Thady Quirk. The heirs are: the dissipated spendthrift Sir Patrick O'Shaughlin, the litigious Sir Murtagh Rackrent, the cruel husband and gambling absentee Sir Kit Rackrent, and the generous but improvident Sir Condy Rackrent. Their sequential mismanagement of the estate is resolved through the machinations—and to the benefit—of the narrator's astute son, Jason Quirk.

Characters

* Thady Quirk is the family steward of the Rackrent family. He serves as the narrator to the novel. * Sir Patrick O'Shaughlin, a gentlemen who agrees to change his surname and bear the Rackrent arms in order to inherit the Castle. * Sir Murtagh Rackrent, the heir to Sir Patrick, who is prone to suing his tenants over property ownership. * Sir Kit Rackrent, the younger brother of Sir Murtagh. He is a repeat philanderer, and eventually dies in a duel. * Jessica Rackrent, the wife of Sir Kit. She is locked in her room by her husband for seven years, until his death. * Sir Conolly 'Condy' Rackrent, the successor to Sir Kit. A well-loved landlord, he loses the castle due to debts and eventually dies of fever. * Isabella Moneygawl Rackrent, the wife of Sir Conolly. She is disinherited upon her marriage and becomes a spendthrift. * Jason Quirk is an estate clerk who ultimately becomes an attorney. He is the son of Thady Quirk. * Judy Quirk is the grandniece of Thady Quirk. She ultimately marries a huntsman.

Themes and style

Kathryn Kirkpatrick suggests that the novel "both borrows from and originates a variety of literary genres and subgenres without neatly fitting into any one of them". It satirises Anglo-Irish landlords and their overall mismanagement of the estates they owned at a time when the British and Irish parliaments were working towards formalising their union through the Acts of Union. Through this and other works, Edgeworth is credited with serving the political, national interests of Ireland and the United Kingdom the way

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

did for Scotland. ''Castle Rackrent'' is a

dialogic Dialogic refers to the use of conversation or shared dialogue to explore the meaning of something. (This is as opposed to monologic which refers to one entity with all the information simply giving it to others without exploration and clarificatio ...

novel, comprising a preface and conclusion by an editor bookending a first person narrative proper. It is widely regarded as the first Irish novel to use the device of a narrator who is both unreliable and an observer of, rather than a player in, the actions he chronicles. It also has a glossary (which was a last-minute addition).

Importance

''Castle Rackrent'' is sometimes regarded as the first

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

, the first regional novel in English, the first

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

novel, the first Big House novel, and the first saga novel.Kirkpatrick, Kathryn J. (1995) "Introduction to ''Castle Rackrent''", Oxford,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

pronounced ''Castle Rackrent'' "one of the most inspired chronicles written in English".

, who met and carried on a correspondence with Edgeworth, credited her novel for inspiring him to write his Waverley series of novels:

Without being so presumptuous as to hope to emulate the rich humour, pathetic tenderness, and admirable tact, which pervade the works of my accomplished friend, I felt that something might be attempted for my own country, of the same kind with that which Miss Edgeworth so fortunately achieved for Ireland—something which might introduce her natives to those of the sister kingdom in a more favourable light than they have been placed hitherto.

The novel is alluded to in ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...

'' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, '' A Mother in History'' by

Jean Stafford Jean Stafford (July 1, 1915 – March 26, 1979) was an American short story writer and novelist who shared the same name with country music singer Jean Stafford. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for '' The Collected Stories of Jean Staffo ...

and ''

Milkman Milk delivery is a Delivery (commerce), delivery service dedicated to supplying milk, typically in milk bottle, bottles or cartons, to customers' homes. This service is performed by a milkman, milkwoman, or milk deliverer. (In contrast, a Cowman ...

'' by Anna Burns.

References

External links