Redefining the Literary Canon: Augustan Women's Amatory Fiction and the Challenge to Traditional Narratives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31812/filstd.v25i.8146Keywords:
Augustan literature, women's writing, amatory fiction, literary canon, female authorship, eighteenth-century novel, gender studies, Aphra Behn, Mary Delavirier Manley, Eliza HaywoodAbstract
This article examines the literary works of Augustan women writers (1690-1740) who explored themes of love and passion, analyzing how their amatory fiction challenged and reshaped the English literary canon. The study focuses on two contrasting traditions: the pious didactic fiction of Jane Barker, Elizabeth Singer Rowe, Mary Davis, and Penelope Aubin, which emphasized virtue and sentimental marriage; and the passionate amatory fiction of the "Fair Triumvirate" - Aphra Behn, Mary Delavirier Manley, and Eliza Haywood - which depicted seduction, intrigue, and female desire. Through analysis of social contexts, authorial strategies, and narrative techniques, this research demonstrates how these writers navigated patriarchal constraints while establishing new forms of female literary expression. The article explores the influence of French literary traditions, the rise of professional female authorship, and the gradual recognition of amatory fiction within academic discourse, arguing for its essential place in understanding the development of the English novel and women's literary history.
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