This exciting edition gathers together for the first time a sampling of Haywood's writings generous enough to represent the full range of her fiction and drama and includes material from each decade of her long writing life. All texts come back into print here and here alone. The collection features six fictions, including both racy early work and later experimental prose fiction, two plays, and some powerful political writing.
Eliza Haywood (1693 – 1756), born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest. Described as “prolific even by the standards of a prolific age” (Blouch, intro 7), Haywood wrote and published over seventy works during her lifetime including fiction, drama, translations, poetry, conduct literature and periodicals. Haywood is a significant figure of the 18th century as one of the important founders of the novel in English. Today she is studied primarily as a novelist.