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Mary Julia Young was a prolific author of fiction and poetry between 1791 and 1810. Although she was listed as one of the 'Mothers of the Novel' in Dale Spender's 100 Good Women Writers Before Jane Austen , she has never been an author of established literary reputation. [1] Despite her self-proclaimed association with the celebrated Augustan Graveyard poet Edward Young, critical focus on Young has been restricted to cursory entries in encyclopaedias of women's writing or Romantic poetry and a few passing references in more general works of criticism to 'Julia Maria Young'. [2] Nonetheless, in 2007, Young's 1798 novel Rose-Mount Castle; or, False Report was republished for the first time. [3] This interest in Young's work--a product of the ongoing attempt to recuperate minor authors of the Romantic period--is the first indication of her potential significance. Indeed, while she was not especially influential in her own time, Young provides a striking example for the modern scholar of the female literary professionalism that transformed the book trade during the course of the eighteenth century.
As one of a growing number of women who wrote, as she termed it, 'for a maintenance', [4] Young offers a valuable insight into the role of women's fiction in a market of mass novel production. It is only within the last two decades that the full extent of women's involvement in the literary marketplace at this time has begun to be explored, demonstrating that in the eighteenth century there was 'a fairly continuous presence of "dependant professional" female writers in the literature market', which continued into the 1800s and beyond. [5] Young's literary career encapsulates many of the hardships faced by these 'dependant professional' women who were financially reliant on their literary output. Writing appears to have been her principal occupation and she was forced to seek financial assistance from the Royal Literary Fund in 1808 after her publisher went bankrupt, owing Young a considerable sum. Throughout her writing career, Young--like many other professional female writers--was placed under immense pressure from the publishing entrepreneurs of the day and forced to be highly attuned to the fluctuations of the market she sought to exploit.
Biography
Little is known about Young's personal life. She is often confused with Mary Sewell (née...