Eliza Parsons (née Phelp) (1739 – 5 February 1811) was an English
Gothic novel
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...
ist, best known for ''
The Castle of Wolfenbach
''The Castle of Wolfenbach'' (1793) is the most famous novel written by the English Gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. First published in two volumes in 1793, it is among the seven "horrid novels" recommended by the character Isabella Thorpe in Ja ...
'' (1793) and ''
The Mysterious Warning'' (1796). These are two of the
seven Gothic titles recommended as reading by a character in
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's novel ''
Northanger Abbey
''Northanger Abbey'' () is a coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the ...
''.
Life
The life of Eliza Parsons has been subject to much speculation, but most researchers agree she was born in 1739. Parsons's baptismal certificate is dated 4 April 1739. Eliza was born in
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
,
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, as the only daughter of John Phelp, a wine merchant, and his wife Roberta Phelp. She spent her childhood in a prosperous household and became well educated for a young woman in the 18th century. At about 21 years old, Eliza married a
turpentine
Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a special ...
distiller, James Parsons, from the nearby town of
Stonehouse, on 24 March 1760. Together they had three sons and five daughters.
About 1778–1779, the family moved to a suburb in London, when Parsons's turpentine business saw a decline as an indirect result of the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. Mr Parsons invested his remaining money in his dwindling turpentine trade, and for about three years, the family's standard of living returned to the pre-American Revolution level. In 1782, however, a devastating fire broke out in one of the warehouses, spread quickly, and destroyed everything Mr Parsons owned. He then took a position in the
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...
's office.
Several months before the warehouse fire, the Parsons's eldest son had died in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, immediately after his promotion to captain of the
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
. Domestic bereavement coupled with the reverses in his business fortunes compounded with deteriorating health, and he suffered a paralysing stroke.
[Varma, ''Introduction''.] He lived for three more years until he suffered a second, fatal stroke in 1797. Eliza's second oldest son also died in the military. In 1803, one of her daughters died, and in 1804 so did her youngest son.
[E. Parsons (2007): ''The Castle of Wolfenbach''. D. L. Hoeveler, ed., Kansas City, MO: Valancourt.]
Left alone with a family to provide for, Eliza began to write novels to support them. Over a career spanning 1790 and 1807, she wrote 19 novels and one play, contained in a total of 60 volumes. Nonetheless, she was perpetually short of money. Between 1793 and 1803 she received 45 guineas from the
Royal Literary Fund and also worked at the
Royal Wardrobe.
[Virginia Blain and Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, ed. ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present''. Yale University Press, 1990 p. 835.] She died on 5 February 1811 at the age of 72 in
Leytonstone
Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...
in Essex, survived by four married daughters.
Female Gothic writing
Parsons turned to Gothic writing as a genre that was highly popular at the time.
Critics often claimed her works were ill-written and disorganised. Parsons was a deeply religious Protestant, who believed in the good being rewarded and the wicked punished, which shows through in her works. Her first novel, ''The History of Miss Meredith'', appeared in 1790, the year of her husband's death. The better-known ''
The Castle of Wolfenbach
''The Castle of Wolfenbach'' (1793) is the most famous novel written by the English Gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. First published in two volumes in 1793, it is among the seven "horrid novels" recommended by the character Isabella Thorpe in Ja ...
'' followed in 1793, in a period when opinion in England and France was starting to turn away from arranged marriages. ''The Castle of Wolfenbach'' portrays this idea, along with belief in a strong patriarchal family and respect for the middle class rather than aristocracy.
Other novels of hers include ''Women as They Are'' (1797) and ''The Valley of Saint Gotthard'' (1799). Parsons shows female Gothic-writing characteristics by having a heroine trick her way into an inheritance while pretending to be vulnerable and innocent.
Two of Parsons's novels, ''The Castle of Wolfenbach'' and ''
The Mysterious Warning'' (1796), feature among the seven
''horrid romances'' that Catherine Morland recommends to Isabella Thorpe in Chapter 6 of Jane Austen's ''
Northanger Abbey
''Northanger Abbey'' () is a coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the ...
''. These titles were thought to be fictitious until December 1912. Critics have said it is no accident that
Ann Radcliffe
Ann Radcliffe (née Ward; 9 July 1764 – 7 February 1823) was an English novelist and a pioneer of Gothic fiction. Her technique of explaining apparently supernatural elements in her novels has been credited with gaining respectability for G ...
's works were not named and two of Parsons's were. Many of Parsons's novels had prefaces that would seem to invite sympathy from the readers towards her unfortunate situation and to excuse her lack of talent. ''The Castle of Wolfenbach'' and ''The Mysterious Warning'' had happy endings that were too clumsy and convenient for critics.
[F. S. Frank, D. H. Thomson and J. G. Voller, eds (2002): ''Gothic Writers: A Critical and Bibliographical Guide''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.]
Works
References
External links
List of titlesCorvey CW3 - Author Page - Eliza Parsons, 1740 - 1811at
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...
(based on
Corvey
The Princely Abbey of Corvey (german: link=no, Fürststift Corvey or Fürstabtei Corvey) is a former Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastical principality now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was one of the half-dozen self-ruling '' princely ...
collection)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Eliza
1739 births
1811 deaths
English horror writers
Writers from Plymouth, Devon
18th-century English novelists
19th-century English novelists
18th-century British women writers
19th-century English women writers
Women horror writers
English women novelists
Writers of Gothic fiction