Fantomina: Love in a Maze

Eliza Haywood (1693-1756) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, actress, and publisher. Notoriously private, Haywood is a major figure in English literature about whom little is known for certain. Scholars believe she was born Eliza Fowler in Shropshire or London, but are unclear on the socioeconomic status of her family. She first appears in the public record in 1715, when she performed in an adaptation of Shakespeare¿s Timon of Athens in Dublin. Famously portrayed as a woman of ill-repute in Alexander Pope¿s Dunciad (1743), it is believed that Haywood had been deserted by her husband to raise their children alone. Pope¿s account is likely to have come from poet Richard Savage, with whom Haywood was friends for several years beginning in 1719 before their falling out. This period coincided with the publication of Love in Excess (1719-1720), Haywood¿s first and best-known novel. Alongside Delarivier Manley and Aphra Behn, Haywood was considered one of the leading romance writers of her time. Haywood¿s novels, such as Idalia; or The Unfortunate Mistress (1723) and The Distress¿d Orphan; or Love in a Madhouse (1726), often explore the domination and oppression of women by men. The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1751), one of Haywood¿s final novels, is a powerful story of a woman who leaves her abusive husband, experiences independence, and is pressured to marry once more. Highly regarded by feminist scholars today, Haywood was a prolific writer who revolutionized the English novel while raising a family, running a pamphlet shop in Covent Gardens, and pursuing a career as an actress and writer for some of London¿s most prominent theaters.

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Fantomina charts an unnamed female protagonist's pursuit of the charming, shallow Beauplaisir. Dealing with major themes such as identity, class and sexual desire, and first published in 1725, Fantomina subverts the popular 'persecuted maiden' narrative, and reaches a climax which would have shocked its contemporary readership.