Clara Reeve (23 January 1729 – 3 December 1807) was an English novelist best known for the

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 ...

The Old English Baron ''The Old English Baron'' is an early Gothic novel by the English author Clara Reeve. It was first published under this title in 1778, although it had anonymously appeared in 1777 under its original name of ''The Champion of Virtue'', before Samue ...

'' (1777). She also wrote an innovative history of prose fiction, ''The Progress of Romance'' (1785). Her first work was a translation from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, then an unusual language for a woman to learn.

Biography

Early life

Clara Reeve was born in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

, one of the eight children of Reverend William Reeve MA, Rector of Freston and of

Kirton, Suffolk Kirton is a village and a civil parish in the shire county of Suffolk, England, situated off the A14 road, about from Felixstowe and around from Ipswich. The closest train station to Kirton is Trimley. According to the 2011 census, Kirton ha ...

, and

perpetual curate Perpetual curate was a class of resident parish priest or incumbent curate within the United Church of England and Ireland (name of the combined Anglican churches of England and Ireland from 1800 to 1871). The term is found in common use mainly du ...

of St Nicholas, Ipswich. Her mother was the daughter of William Smithies, a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

and jeweller to King George I. Vice-Admiral

Samuel Reeve Vice-Admiral Samuel Reeve (c. 1733 – 5 May 1803) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who saw service in the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary Wars. in 1779 he was captain of HMS ''Surprize'', seizing American priv ...

(c. 1733–1803) was her brother. Reeve described her father and her early life in a letter to a friend:

Career

After the death of her father in 1755, Reeve lived for a time with her mother and sisters in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

, then moved into her own house in Ipswich. There her first piece of authorship was a translation from Latin of the historical allegory '' Argenis'' by John Barclay, which she entitled ''The Phoenix'' (1772). She was saddened by the reception her translation received, later writing, "It was the best book I ever gave to the public, and the worst received." Reeve published at least 24 volumes over a 33-year career as an author. They included five novels, of which only ''The Champion of Virtue'' and ''

'' (1777) became well known. The latter was written in imitation of ''

The Castle of Otranto ''The Castle of Otranto'' is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – ''A Gothic Story''. Se ...

'' or as a rival to it. The two have often been printed together. The first edition, entitled ''The Old English Baron'', was dedicated to the daughter of

Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...

, who is said to have helped Reeve to revise and correct it.Scott (1870) p. 546. It would have a noticeable influence on

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

's ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ...

'' (1818). Reeve also wrote an

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

, ''The School for Widows'' (1791), followed by ''Plans of Education'' (1792), whose focus was on issues of female education. Her innovative history of prose fiction, ''The Progress of Romance'' (1785), can be seen as a precursor to modern histories of the novel. It specifically upholds the tradition of female literary history heralded by

Elizabeth Rowe Elizabeth Singer Rowe (née Singer, 1674–1737) was an English poet, essayist and fiction writer called "the ornament of her sex and age" and the "Heavenly Singer". She was among 18th-century England's most widely read authors. She wrote ma ...

(1674–1737) and

Susannah Dobson Susannah Dobson née Dawson (c. 1742Temma Berg: ''The Lives and Letters of an Eighteenth-Century Circle of Acquaintance'' (Aldershot, UK, and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2006)Retrieved 19 May 2017 p. 56. – 29 September 1795) was a translator from th ...

(died 1795). One story in the work, "The History of Charoba, Queen of Egypt", inspired Walter Savage Landor's first major piece, ''Gebir'' (1798). Reeve seems to have managed her publishing career personally, rather than relying on male relations to deal with publishers on her behalf.

Death

Reeve led a retiring life and left little biographical material. She died in Ipswich and was buried, as she wished, in the churchyard of St Stephen's, next to her friend the Reverend Derby.

Influence

Written in response to Walpole's ''Castle of Otranto'', ''The Old English Baron'' was a major influence on the development of Gothic fiction, gaining popularity for the genre in universities and among general readers. A contextual introduction that looks at Reeve in the context of late 18th-century women's writing and the history of the Gothic can be found in this book.

Henrietta Mosse Henrietta Mosse or Henrietta Rouviere (17?? – 1834) was a British romantic novelist who was born in Ireland. Life Mosse was born in Ireland but the actual location and date is unknown. She was the daughter of Joseph Rouviere, Esquire, of Dubli ...

was to use this story as a model for her own novel, ''The Old Irish Baronet'' in 1808. Although Reeve's ''The Progress of Romance,'' was long overlooked by scholars, Garry Kelly has called it "not only a pioneering history and defense of "romance" from antiquity to the mid-eighteenth century but also a ground- breaking work of literary scholarship by a woman". Reeve's contribution to developing Gothic fiction can be demonstrated on at least two fronts. First there is the reinforcement of the Gothic narrative framework as one that focuses on expanding the imaginative domain to include the supernatural, but without losing the realism that marks the novel that Walpole pioneered. Secondly, Reeve also sought to find an appropriate formula for ensuring that fiction is believable and coherent. She spurned specific aspects of Walpole's style, such as his tendency to blend in humour or comedy that diminishes the Gothic tale's ability to induce fear. In 1777, Reeve enumerated Walpole's excesses:

a sword so large as to require an hundred men to lift it; a helmet that by its own weight forces a passage through a court-yard into an arched vault, big enough for a man to go through; a picture that walks out of its frame; a skeleton ghost in a hermit's cowl...

Although successive Gothic writers did not fully heed Reeve's emotional realism, she posited a framework that keeps Gothic fiction within the realm of the probable. This remained a challenge for authors after publication of ''The Old English Baron''. Beyond its providential context, the supernatural often risked veering towards the absurd.Geary, p. 40.

Works

*''The Phoenix'' (1772), an abridged translation of John Barclay's '' Argenis'' *''The Champion of Virtue'' (1777), republished as ''

'' (1778) *''The Two Mentors: A Modern Story'' (1783) *''The School for Widows: A Novel'' (1785) *''The Progress of Romance'' (1785) *''The Exiles, or, Memoirs of the Count de Cronstadt'' (1788) *''Plans of Education'' (1792) *''The Memoirs of Sir Roger de Clarendon'' (1793) *''Destination, or, Memoirs of a Private Family'' (1799) *''Edwin, King of Northumberland: A Story of the Seventh Century'' (1802)

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * *ODN

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeve, Clara 1729 births 1807 deaths Writers from Ipswich English women novelists 18th-century British novelists Latin–English translators Writers of Gothic fiction 18th-century translators 18th-century English women writers 19th-century English women writers