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Disguised as a prostitute, a maid, a widow, and an anonymous lover, one woman carries out four heated affairs—with one man. Although her experiment begins as a matter of curiosity, the narrator soon finds it difficult to separate truth from fiction. Witty and tragic, Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze is a story of identity and desire by Eliza Haywood.
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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.
Riassunto
Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze (1725) is a novel by Eliza Haywood. Blending tragedy and comedy, Haywood revolutionizes the novel by turning the common trope of the persecuted maiden on its head. A story of individual autonomy and sexual freedom, Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze is considered a prime example of the popular genre of amatory fiction, which often exposes the imbalance between male and female desire in a patriarchal society. Fantomina is an independent woman, a prostitute for whom desire is a powerful tool. Celia, an innocent country girl, is a young maiden unfamiliar with the ways of love. Mrs. Bloomer, a widow, knows what it is to love and to lose. Incognita is a mysterious masked woman who meets with men in the dead of night. Each of these women is involved sexually with Beauplaisir, a vain and handsome aristocrat. But they have something else in common—all four lovers are, in fact, the same woman, an unnamed narrator whose infatuation with freedom and innate curiosity lead her on a quest to experience desire in a multitude of ways. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina: Or, Love in a Maze is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
