The Novels and Selected Plays of Thomas Holcroft

Arnold A Markley

Volume 1: Early Novels Manthorn, the Enthusiast (1778-9); Alwyn, or, The Gentleman Comedian (1780) This edition of Manthorn, the Enthusiast will be the first publication of the novel in book form. Attacking 'the anti-social effects of religious fanaticism' in general, and of Methodism in particular, Manthorn unashamedly champions free thought, thus laying the foundation for Holcroft's revolutionary social agenda and writings. The dramatic material which Holcroft had designed for the character of Manthorn, the strolling actor, reappeared in 1780 in the epistolary novel Alwyn, or the Gentleman Comedian. Of all of Holcroft's novels, Alwyn is the least explicitly revolutionary, although it deserves wider attention for its vivid and partly autobiographical scenes of 'spouters' and strolling players. Volume 2 Anna St Ives (1792) In Anna St Ives, the first revolutionary novel to appear in England, Holcroft forcibly dramatised the historic clash between the Burkean conservative Britain and his own radical New Jerusalem. The novel tells the story of Anna St Ives, the enlightened and emancipated daughter of a hedonistic land-owner, and centres on her choice of the best marriage partner. Described by Gary Kelly as 'a sans-culotte Clarissa', Anna St Ives recasts Richardson's seduction/rape theme in terms of a Jacobin condemnation of her assailant's libertinism, which now comes to represent society's moral and social corruption. Volume 3 The Adventures of Hugh Trevor (1794-7) The publication history of Hugh Trevor reflects something of the drama and upheaval that characterised the author's life in the mid-1790s as much as the era itself. Proclaiming the New Jerusalem already envisioned in Anna St Ives, the first three volumes of Hugh Trevor appeared in the summer of 1794; interrupted by Holcroft's arrest, incarceration and subsequent release as an 'acquitted felon', the final three volumes of the novel would not appear until 1797. Moulded around Hugh Trevor's need to choose a profession for himself, the story traces the development of the hero's mind, whilst it offers a critical analysis of the society he lives in. Volume 4 Memoirs of Bryan Perdue (1805) Memoirs of Bryan Perdue appeared when Holcroft was trying to regain his position in the British literary scene after three years of self-exile on the continent. Despite the waning of Jacobinism as a popular movement and a political force, the novel has an explicit radical social agenda. Among the themes touched upon in the narrative are the evils of gambling, the degrading influence of trade, a reform of the slave system and the abolition of capital punishment. Volume 5 Selected Plays Duplicity (1781); Seduction (1787); The Road to Ruin, a Comedy (1792); The Deserted Daughter (1795); Knave or Not (1798); Deaf and Dumb (1801); A Tale of Mystery (1802) While Holcroft is best-known today for his contribution to genre of the Romantic-era novel, he was also one of the most outspoken theatre critics of his age. But although he contributed many critical pieces on contemporary drama to the English Review and other magazines, there is a general consensus that he was often guilty of the same offences he condemned in others. However, it is also widely accepted that at his best, Holcroft 'could rival any comedy written in the eighteenth century'. This volume includes a selection of what have been singled out by most critics as his most consummate and innovative plays.