Delarivier Manley

Mary Delarivier Manley (1663 - 1724) was an early writer of pulp fiction, playwright and also a political pamphleteer and aide of the then Prime Minister Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer. Manley's texts deal thematically with an early or proto-feminist perspective, the reification of the female body, and the validity of the female point of view. This was very radical stuff at the time, as was her life, being a member, with fellow writers Eliza Haywood and Aphra Behn, of the group known as The Fair Triumvirate of Wit. Her writing participated in the amatory fiction genre of British literature.

Related Topics:
1663 - 1724 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer - Eliza Haywood - Aphra Behn - The Fair Triumvirate of Wit - Amatory fiction

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She was brought up with her sister Cornelia by her father in an army camp. After the death of their father, the girls became wards of their cousin, John Manley, a Tory MP. John Manley had married a Cornish heiresss and, later, bigamously married Delarivier. They had a son, also named John.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In January 1694 she left her huisband and went to live with Lady Castlemaine, at one time the mistress of Charles II. She remained there only six months, being expelled by the duchess for flirting with her son.

Related Topics:
1694 - Lady Castlemaine - Charles II

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the period of 1694 - 1696 Delarivier travelled extensively in England, principally in the south-west. At this time she wrote her first play, a comedy, The Lost Lover, or, The Jealous Husband (1696). It is possible that she was by then reconciled with her husband.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~