ABSTRACT Often described as original or inimitable, Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent has a reputation as a one-off experiment, a type of writing not to be attempted again in the author’s own lifetime. This essay reappraises the novel’s reputation, not in order to deny its exceptional status but rather to renew our understanding of Edgeworth’s precocious literary achievements. I analyze Castle Rackrent’s distinctively bookish approach to the past in relation to the culture of Irish Romanticism, arguing that ideas of agency and mediation are central to the novel’s astonishing ability to reimagine relationships between voice, print, and history.

中文翻译：

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Rackrent城堡的秘密

摘要 Maria Edgeworth 的 Castle Rackrent 经常被描述为原创或独一无二，享有一次性实验的声誉，这是一种在作者有生之年不会再次尝试的写作类型。本文重新评价这部小说的声誉，不是为了否认它的特殊地位，而是为了更新我们对御剑早熟文学成就的理解。我分析了 Castle Rackrent 对过去与爱尔兰浪漫主义文化相关的独特的书卷气方法，认为代理和中介的思想是小说重新想象声音、印刷和历史之间关系的惊人能力的核心。