Sophia Lee (1750 – 13 March 1824) was an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and educator. She was a formative writer of

Gothic fiction 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 e ...

. She and her sister Harriet also wrote a number of ''Canterbury Tales'' (1797).

Life and literary production

She was the daughter of

John Lee John Lee may refer to: Academia * John Lee (astronomer) (1783–1866), president of the Royal Astronomical Society * John Lee (university principal) (1779–1859), University of Edinburgh principal * John Lee (pathologist) (born 1961), English ...

(died 1781), actor and theatrical manager, and was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Her first piece, ''The Chapter of Accidents'', a three-act drama based on

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

's '' Le père de famille'', was produced by

George Colman the Elder George Colman (April 1732 – 14 August 1794) was an English dramatist and essayist, usually called "the Elder", and sometimes "George the First", to distinguish him from his son, George Colman the Younger. He also owned a theatre. Early lif ...

at the Haymarket Theatre on 5 August 1780 and was an immediate success. When her father died in 1781, Lee spent the proceeds of the play on establishing a school at Bath, where she made a home for her sisters Anne and Harriet. Her novel ''The Recess, or a Tale of other Times'' (1783–1785) was a historical romance. ''The Recess'', set in Elizabethan times, revolves around two fictional daughters of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

. Lee also wrote the play '' Almeyda, Queen of Granada'' (1796), a long

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...

, which opened at Drury Lane on 20 April 1796 but ran for only five nights. ''The Recess'' can also be regarded as a formative work of the original Gothic, echoing and pre-dating themes from other contemporary

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

writers. It was so popular that a spin-off novelette appeared in 1820, ''Rose Douglas; or, The Court of Elizabeth''

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...

might consider it "dismal" by comparison with the works of

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 ...

, but its influence both on the Gothic school of the

Minerva Press Minerva Press was a publishing house, noted for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and Gothic fiction in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It was established by William Lane (c. 1745–1814) at No 33 Leadenhall Street, Lon ...

, and on figures like

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

is nonetheless clear.C. Spooner ed. ''The Routledge Companion to Gothic'' (2007) pp. 10, 73, and 156 From this work, Italian writer Carlo Federici wrote the play ''Il paggio di Leicester'' ''(Leicester's Page)'' and, in turn, that became the source of ''

Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra ''Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra'' (; ''Elizabeth, Queen of England'') is a ''dramma per musica'' or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play ''Il paggio di Leicester'' (''Leicester's Page'') by ...

'', ''(Elizabeth, Queen of England)'' the 1812 opera by

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

, the libretto of which was written by Giovanni Schmidt. With her sister Harriet Lee, Sophia also wrote a series of ''Canterbury Tales'' (1797). Other works included ''The Life of a Lover'' (1804) and ''Ormond; or the Debauchee'' (1810). She died at her house near

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton D ...

on 13 March 1824.

Works

Plays: *'' The Chapter of Accidents'' (1780) *'' Almeyda, Queen of Granada'' (1796) *''The Assignation'' (1807) Novels: *
The Recess
' (1783–1785) *
Canterbury Tales
' (1797–1799), co- authored with Harriet Lee *
The Life of a Lover
' (1804) *''Ormond; or the Debauchee'' (1810)

Notes

;Attribution * *

References

* *Rebecca Garwood

*

Bibliography

*Alliston, April. ''Virtue's Faults: Correspondences in Eighteenth-Century British and French Women's Fiction'' (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996). *Alliston, April, ed. ''The Recess, or, A Tale of Other Times'' (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000). *Lewis, Jayne Elizabeth. "'Ev'ry Lost Relation': Historical Fictions and Sentimental Incidents in Sophia Lee's ''The Recess''." ''Eighteenth-Century Fiction'' 7, no. 2 (January 1995): 165-84. *Lewis, Jayne Elizabeth. ''Mary Queen of Scots: Romance and Nation'' (London: Routledge, 1998). *Nordius, Janina. "A Tale of Other Places: Sophia Lee's ''The Recess'' and Colonial Gothic." ''Studies in the Novel'' 34.2 (Summer 2002): 162-76. *Rigliano, Matthew J. "The Recess Does Not Exist: Absorption, Literality, and Feminine Subjectivity in Sophia Lee's ''The Recess''." ''Eighteenth-Century Fiction'' 26.2 (Winter 2013-14): 209-32. *Sodeman, Melissa. ''Sentimental Memorials: Women and the Novel in Literary History'' (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2014). *Stevens, Anne H. ''British Historical Fiction Before Scott'' (New York: Palgrave, 2010).

External links

Sophia Lee
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sophia 1750 births 1824 deaths Writers from London English women novelists 18th-century British women writers 19th-century English women writers 18th-century English novelists 19th-century English novelists 18th-century British dramatists and playwrights English women dramatists and playwrights Writers of the Romantic era Schoolteachers from Somerset English historical novelists Women historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period