The seduction novel is a

literary genre A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided i ...

which was popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A seduction novel presents the story of a virtuous, but helpless woman who is seduced by a man that will eventually betray her. "Inevitably, she yields herself to him; inevitably, she dies." Her failure to adhere to the commonly accepted standard of sexual behaviour leads to her "self-destruction and death".H.Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. J.F.Yellin, Cambridge 2000, p. xxxii. Examples include ''

Charlotte Temple ''Charlotte Temple'' is a novel by British-American author Susanna Rowson, originally published in England in 1791 under the title ''Charlotte, A Tale of Truth''. It tells the story of a schoolgirl, Charlotte Temple, who is seduced by a British ...

'' by

Susanna Rowson Susanna Rowson, née Haswell (1762 – 2 March 1824) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, religious writer, stage actress, and educator, considered the first woman geographer and supporter of female education. She also wrote against s ...

(1791), ''

The Coquette ''The Coquette or, The History of Eliza Wharton'' is an epistolary novel by Hannah Webster Foster. It was published anonymously in 1797, and did not appear under the author's real name until 1856, 16 years after Foster's death. It was one of the ...

'' by

Hannah Webster Foster Hannah Webster Foster (September 10, 1758/59 – April 17, 1840) was an American novelist. Her epistolary novel, '' The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton'', was published anonymously in 1797. Although it sold well in the 1790s, it was no ...

(1797), and the short story ''

The Quadroons "The Quadroons" is a short story written by American writer Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) and published in '' The Liberty Bell'' in 1842. The influential short story depicts the life and death of a mixed-race woman and her daughter in early ninetee ...

'' by

Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and ...

(1842).

Harriet Jacobs Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815 – March 7, 1897) was an African-American writer whose autobiography, ''Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'', published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic". Born into ...

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ''Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, written by herself'' is an autobiography by Harriet Jacobs, a mother and fugitive slave, published in 1861 by L. Maria Child, who edited the book for its author. Jacobs used the pseudonym Linda Brent. The ...

'' (1861) is in some ways linked to this genre, but here the sexual transgression of the narrator doesn't lead to self-destruction, but the book ends with the narrator's gaining freedom for herself and her children. ''The Coquette'' and ''Charlotte Temple'' were two of the first bestsellers in America and were popular among most critics during their publication.

References

Literary genres {{Lit-genre-stub