Dimensions
129 x 196 x 9mm
A witty three-pronged attack on male chauvinism.
In three linked sections - 'A Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend upon the Birth of a Daughter, with the answer', 'Letters of Julia and Caroline', and 'An Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification' - Maria Edgeworth's first book makes a humorous contribution to the 1790s debate on women's intellectual emancipation.
The 'Gentleman' advises his friend against the dangers of female education, convinced it leads to immodesty and threatens the social order. Yet Caroline, upbraiding her society friend Julia for her flighty behaviour, proves that education can reinforce the feminine virtues he fears for, while the satirical 'Essay', which purports to teach brides how to win the marriage war with such weapons as shrillness and duplicity, shows the social manipulation uneducated women can practise.
The most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction, notes, selected criticism and chronology of Edgeworth's life and times.
