Seduction novel

The seduction novel is a literary genre which was popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A seduction novel presents the story of a virtuous, but helpless woman who is seduced by a man that will eventually betray her. "Inevitably, she yields herself to him; inevitably, she dies." Her failure to adhere to the commonly accepted standard of sexual behaviour leads to her "self-destruction and death".[1]

Title page of 1814 edition of Charlotte Temple

Examples include Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson (1791),[1][2] The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster (1797),[2] and the short story The Quadroons by Lydia Maria Child (1842). Harriet Jacobs's autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) is in some ways linked to this genre, but here the sexual transgression of the narrator doesn't lead to self-destruction, but the book ends with the narrator's gaining freedom for herself and her children.[1]

The Coquette and Charlotte Temple were two of the first bestsellers in America and were popular among most critics during their publication.[2]

References

H.Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. J.F.Yellin, Cambridge 2000, p. xxxii.
Jarenski, Shelly (2004). "The Voice of the Preceptress: Female Education in and as the Seduction Novel". The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association. 37 (1): 59–68. JSTOR 1315378.

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[Jacobs32-1] H.Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. J.F.Yellin, Cambridge 2000, p. xxxii.

[Jarenski-2] Jarenski, Shelly (2004). "The Voice of the Preceptress: Female Education in and as the Seduction Novel". The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association. 37 (1): 59–68. JSTOR 1315378.