Maria Edgeworth, The Parent's Assistant

Sharon Jude Murphy (St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra)

Ed. by Ian Campbell Ross, Trinity College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1796 - 1800

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Didactic
Story Collection

Resources

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Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) published her first collection of tales for children under the title

The Parent's Assistant

in 1796. In his preface to the work, her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817), stressed that it was in the first place predicated upon the observation of real-life children and contained lessons that had been faithfully drawn from real-life experience. “It seems … a very easy task to write for children”, he remarked, but “[t]hose only who have been interested in the education of a family … can feel the dangers and difficulties of such an undertaking” (10: 1-2). Richard Lovell Edgeworth's point was that his daughter was peculiarly suited to write for children because she

knew

children and, indeed, the tales that make up

The Parent's Assistant

are in…

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1069 words

Citation: Murphy, Sharon Jude. "The Parent's Assistant". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 May 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7339, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Maria Edgeworth, The Parent's Assistant

Dates

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