The most acclaimed novel of Irish women writers Somerville and Ross and, for some critics, the best Irish novel of the nineteenth century,
The Real Charlottehad a less auspicious critical beginning. Some English popular magazines were disturbed by the novel’s use of the grotesque. They disliked the powerful and conniving heroine of the text, Charlotte Mullen. They could not understand why her pretty, younger cousin, Francie Fitzpatrick, did not marry the hero in the end of it all but, instead, was killed off with startling and horrifying abruptness. The novel subverts romantic conventions and details the bleak conditions of the Irish landscape with grim humour. Despite some negative criticism, the novel soon became recognised as an Irish tour de force. Lady Gregory (Martin Ross’s…
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Citation: Stevens, Julie Anne. "The Real Charlotte". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21657, accessed 26 November 2024.]
