Barbauld, Anna Letitia, Prose

Although she wrote no novels, Anna Barbauld is an important figure in the development of fiction as an anthologist and theorist. She reminds us of the part that women played in criticism of the novel beyond their better known roles as novelists and as readers. Barbauld was a public intellectual and woman of letters: poet, essayist, political writer, reviewer, anthologist, editor, educator, and especially respected during the nineteenth century as an innovative writer for children. And then she faded from notice. More recently a number of critics, including Claudia Johnson, Catherine Moore, Mary Waters, and Daniel White, offer new views of her prose writings. William McCarthy and Elizabeth Kraft have helped to make her writings available through editions of herPoemsandSelected Poetry and Prose. Michelle Levy and Scott Krawczyk outline how Barbauld's collaborative model of authorship with her brother John Aikin represents a radical aesthetic concerning education. William McCarthy has published a comprehensive biography. Whether she is writing for a young child or an adult reader Barbauld's witty conversational style conveys her belief that fiction educates and offers inclusive forms of cultural engagement.