A lively and far-ranging interest in place(s), space(s), and situation characterizes the writing of the British Romantic-era author Charlotte Smith (1749-1806). Smith repeatedly questions what it means to be British in her literature. In an era of intense nationalism, Smith explores her world in cosmopolitan terms. Placing Charlotte Smith offers new insights into how Smith utilized the idea of place in multiple ways, such as a theme, an idea, a principle, or a metaphor. Several chapters in the collection examine of Smith's own frequent change of location and the effect on these moves had on her conceptions of home and well-being. Other chapters analyze Smith's accounts of radicalism and patriotism in terms of family and locate Smith's literature within comedic, aesthetic, and scientific traditions. This volume of original essays advances contemporary understanding of two overarching themes in Smith studies: her place as a writer central to her period, and her contribution to the creation of "place" as a thing of social and literary importance.

This book explores what it means to read the six major works of Jane Austen, in light of the ten major works of fiction by Charlotte Smith. It proposes that Smith had a deep and lasting impact on Austen, but this is not an influence study. Instead, it argues for the possibility that two authors who never met could between them write something into being, both responding to and creating a novelistic zeitgeist. This, the book argues, can be called co-writing. This book will appeal to students and scholars of the novel, of women's writing, and of Smith and Austen specifically.

This book explores what it means to read the six major works of Jane Austen, in light of the ten major works of fiction by Charlotte Smith. It proposes that Smith had a deep and lasting impact on Austen, but this is not an influence study. Instead, it argues for the possibility that two authors who never met could between them write something into being, both responding to and creating a novelistic zeitgeist. This, the book argues, can be called co-writing. This book will appeal to students and scholars of the novel, of women's writing, and of Smith and Austen specifically.

In The Old Manor House (1794), Charlotte Smith combines elements of the romance, the Gothic, recent history, and culture to produce both a social document and a compelling novel. A "property romance," the love story of Orlando and Monimia revolves around the Manor House as inheritable property. In situating their romance as dependent on the whims of property owners, Smith critiques a society in love with money at the expense of its most vulnerable members, the dispossessed. Appendices in this edition include: contemporary responses; writings on the genre debate by Anna Letitia Barbauld, John Moore, and Walter Scott; and historical documents focusing on property laws as well as the American and French revolutions.