Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768) & Jane Collier (1709?-1755) The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable.
London: R. & J. Dodsley, 1754.
First edition, three 12mo volumes; ex libris Harvard's Houghton library with de-accession stamps, old bookplates loosely inserted, library stamps to verso of titles, blind stamps to title pages; rebound in the 1990s in uniform half cloth with marbled paper boards, contents mottled, 6 3/8 x 3 3/4 in. (3)
This collaborative allegorical and satirical novel by Fielding (sister of Henry Fielding) and Jane Collier was published the year before the latter died. The two women were living together as early as 1751, and both were active in the community of female writers in Bath in this period. The Cry of the title is a chorus of women that responds to the action of the characters in the story. The main character, Portia, is an intellectual pushing back against male dismissal and prejudice, like Collier & Fielding themselves.
"Before Jane Austen's novels explored heroines in English society, writers Sarah Fielding and Jane Collier dared to provide commentary on gender and education through self-conscious narratives. Published in 1754 in five parts and divided into three volumes, The Cry stands as one of the most distinctive and intriguing works by women during the florescence of their writing in eighteenth-century England. Strikingly experimental --mixing fiction and philosophy, drama and exposition, satire and irony, and singular and choral voices-- The Cry revolves around a main character, Portia, who tells a series of stories to an audience that includes Una, the allegorical representation of truth, and the Cry itself, a collection of characters who serve as a kind of Greek chorus. A story about the story-making female subject, the novel serves as a catalyst to convey that women are capable of doing all of the things that men can do--discuss ethics, learn, and think rationally--and should be allowed to do these things publicly. [The] novel continues to facilitate discussions about women and public life." (Quoted from the blurb describing Carolyn Woodward's 2017 edition of The Cry.)
