French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Griffin, The Muse of Black Humour. Lady Mary Wroth's Urania: A Poetics of Melancholy
Novel and Narrative Prose
Aurélie Griffin
The Muse of Black Humour. Urania of Lady Mary Wroth: A Poetics of Melancholy
Paris, Classiques Garnier, "Lire le XVIIe siècle" series, 2018
EAN: 9782406067276
645 pages
Price: €69
OVERVIEW
As the first Englishwoman to publish a novel, Lady Mary Wroth ostensibly places her work under the sign of Saturn. This book invites readers to discover this writer, who is unjustly overlooked in France, by exploring her poetics of melancholy.
Aurélie Griffin examines the pioneering work of Lady Mary Wroth, celebrated as the first Englishwoman to publish an original work of prose fiction. Rooted in the seventeenth-century literary landscape, the study explores how Wroth engages with the Saturnian tradition of melancholy, transforming despair into a complex aesthetic framework. By focusing on Urania, the book highlights a foundational text of early modern English fiction that anticipates later developments in narrative prose and psychological introspection.
This scholarly monograph serves as an essential resource for students and researchers of early modern literature, gender studies, and comparative narrative forms. It offers French-speaking readers a detailed engagement with an unjustly neglected figure of English letters, addressing broader questions of authorship, genre evolution, and the representation of interiority. Scholars of Renaissance and seventeenth-century culture will find it a valuable contribution to the ongoing re-evaluation of early women writers.