Eliza Parsons (née Phelp) (1739 – 5 February 1811) was an English gothic novelist. Her most famous novels in this genre are The Castle of Wolfenbach (1793) and The Mysterious Warning (1796) - two of the seven gothic titles recommended as reading by a character in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey.
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Many different speculations have been made regarding the life of Eliza Parsons. Most researchers do agree, however, that the author was born in the year 1739. Parsons’s baptismal certificate is dated April 4, 1739.[1] Eliza was born in Plymouth, England as an only daughter to John and Roberta Phelp. John was a middle-class wine merchant.[2] Eliza spent her childhood in a prosperous household and became well-educated for a young woman in the 18th century. Around 21 years old, Eliza married a turpentine distiller, Mr. James Parsons, from the near-by town of Stonehouse. Their marriage certificate dated March 24, 1760.[3] Together they had 3 sons and 5 daughters. In the years of 1778-79, James, Eliza, and their children moved from their home in Stonehouse to a suburb in London when Mr. Parsons’ turpentine business saw a decline as an indirect result of the American War of Independence.[4] In London, Mr. Parsons invested his remaining money into reviving his dwindling turpentine trade.[5] For approximately three years, the Parsons family’s quality of life returned to the pre-American Revolution level. In 1782 a devastating fire broke out in one of Parsons’ warehouses; it spread quickly and destroyed everything he owned. Mr. Parsons was then obliged to relinquish his business and take a position in the Lord Chamberlain’s office at St. James’s. Several months prior to the warehouse fire, the Parsons’ eldest son died in Jamaica, immediately following his promotion to Captain of the Royal Marines. Domestic bereavement coupled with reverses in his economic fortune combined with Mr. Parsons’ deteriorating health and he suffered a paralyzing stroke.[6] Mr. Parsons lived for three more years until he died in 1790 after suffering a second stroke. Eliza’s second eldest son also died in the military. In 1803, one of her daughters died, and in 1804 her youngest son passed.[7] Left alone with a family to provide for, Eliza picked up a pen and began to write novels in order to support her large family. Between 1790 - 1807, over the course of her career Eliza Parsons wrote 19 novels and 1 play, all of which were contained in 60 volumes. Parsons, however, was continually short of money. Between 1793 and 1803 she received 45 guineas from the Royal Literary Fund and also worked at the Royal Wardrobe.[8] She died on 5 February 1811 at the age of 72 in Leytonstone in Essex, leaving behind four married daughters.[9]
Parsons turned to Gothic writing because it was popular at the time.[10] Critics often claimed her works were not well-written and lacked organization. After losing her husband, Parsons had to support her family, so she turned to writing. She produced a lot of novels in a short amount of years, which is why critics claimed there would be inevitable errors in her stories. Parsons was a deeply religious Protestant. She believed in the good being rewarded and the wicked being punished, which shows through in her works. In the year 1790, the same year as her husband’s death, Parsons published her first novel, The History of Miss Meredith. Parsons published The Castle of Wolfenbach in 1793. This was during the second half of the 18th century when England and France were starting to move away from the idea of arranged marriages. Society was leaning toward the idea of marrying freely for love. Parsons portrays this idea through The Castle of Wolfenbach along with the belief of a strong patriarchal family and respect toward the middle-class rather than aristocracy.[11] Some other novels of Parsons included Women as They Are (1797) and The Valley of St. Gothard (1799).[12] Parsons shows female Gothic writing characteristics by having a heroine sort of trick her way into an inheritance while pretending to be vulnerable and innocent all the while.[13] Parsons assisted in developing the “international” Gothic: the political outlook being part liberal and part conservative.[14] Two of Parsons’s novels, The Castle of Wolfenbach and The Mysterious Warning (1796), were named as part of the “horrid romances” Catherine Morland recommends to Isabella Thorpe in chapter six of Jane Austin’s “Northanger Abbey”. The seven titles Austin referenced in her novel were thought to be fictitious until December 1912.[15] Critics suggest Austin named these specific titles due to the fact Austin thought they were the worst of the genre. Critics proclaim it is no accident Radcliffe’s works were not named, and two of Parsons’s were. Many of Parsons’s novels had prefaces that would seem to invite sympathy from the readers towards her unfortunate situation and to excuse her lack of talent. The Castle of Wolfenbach and The Mysterious Warning had too clumsy and convenient happy endings for critics.[16]