Nature and Art

Nature and Art is the second novel written by English actress, playwright, and novelist Elizabeth Inchbald.[1] First published in 1796, Inchbald's two-volume novel considers the influence of education, social conventions, gender conditioning, and privilege on human behavior.[2]

Nature and Art is a satirical fable published in 1796, which is told in the third person narrative. It consists of forty seven chapters, each one is between two and five pages long. It tells the story of two successive generations, and the corrupting effects of the social system in place at the time. It is quite a blunt, rather than subtle, attack on the societal structure, along with a critical reflection on a woman's place in society at that time.[3] Throughout the story Elizabeth Inchbald analyses the effect of education, power and privileges has on human behaviour.

Some characters are brothers William and Henry Norwynne, as well as their sons, also named William and Henry.

Considered a Jacobin novel, Nature and Art traces the connections between the character's personal experiences and larger structures of institutional oppression.[4] Notably, Nature and Art is an early example of a Romantic era novel with a title of paired opposites, like to the later novel Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen.

  1. ^ Spencer, Jane (2004). "Inchbald, Elizabeth (1753-1821)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  2. ^ Inchbald, Elizabeth (2005). Nature and Art. Ontario: Broadview. ISBN 978-1-55111-278-7.
  3. ^ Spencer Jane, The Review of English Studies. Vol 50, No 198, P208-213. JSTOR. wwwjstor.org/stable/518898.
  4. ^ Kelly, Gary (1976). The English Jacobin Novel, 1780-1805. Oxford: Clarendon. ISBN 0198120621.