NOT WISELY, BUT TOO WELL

The most thoroughly sensual tale I have read in English for a long time, complained Geraldine Jewsbury in her reader s report on Rhoda Broughton s Not Wisely, but Too Well (1867). Initially serialised in The Dublin University Magazine, the novel had been brought to the attention of the publisher Bentley and Son by its editor, J S Le Fanu, who also happened to be Broughton s uncle. Although Jewsbury convinced Bentley that this novel was unsuitable for decent people , she succeeded only in delaying its publication, as Broughton instead struck a deal with their rival, Tinsley Brothers. While Broughton ultimately triumphed, she was obliged to make extensive revisions, promising to expunge it of coarseness and slanginess, & to rewrite those passages which cannot be toned down . Jewsbury s moral squeamishness was not shared by the reading public, who were thrilled by Broughton s vivid depiction of Kate Chester teetering on the brink of an adulterous liaison with the solipsistic and haughty Dare Stamer. Notwithstanding the extensive editorial changes, Broughton s novel remains a pioneering portrayal of female sexuality, or what Jewsbury called highly coloured & hot blooded passion . Reproducing the text of its first appearance in volume form, this new edition of Not Wisely, but Too Well illuminates the novel s ideological and aesthetic complexity through appendices related to its publication history, revision, and reception. These appendices include a section containing Jewsbury s reader s report and Broughton and Le Fanu s correspondence with the Bentleys, a list of variants between serial and volume formats of the novel, and a selection of contemporary reviews. Together these materials provide a fascinating case study of the coming to print, and reception, of a controversial Victorian text, while also attesting to the challenges Broughton faced in representing female desire in her early fiction. This completely reset critical edition includes