User:SylviaLadyLazarusPlath/sandbox

Reception History
During the 18th century, Jane Barker was a prolific Jacobite writer who received the approval of many male counterparts during her time, and also played a prevalent role in the development of the concept of the novel. Jane Barker’s ability to be well-liked within coteries with predominantly male membership was a highly important aspect of her positive reception because of the importance of male authorship approval at the time. Kathryn R. King goes as far as to suggest that Barker's ability to be liked is due to the fact “that sociability is a more important feature of early women’s verse than much feminist scholarship, preoccupied with themes of personal isolation and cultural exclusion, has permitted us to see.”

Jane Barker’s lack of negative criticism during her time period, despite her work as a female author, can be attributed to Barker not being seen as a professional female writer, but rather as a devoutly religious alternative to scandalous authors such as Eliza Haywood, and therefore remained relatively immune to the scrutiny that female writers, such as Haywood and Delarivier Manley, faced during the same time period. Her pious nature kept her out of the public’s negative eye, and removed the common title of "author whore", thus eliminating the potential for negative criticism of that nature. Alongside her religious reputation, her romantic heroine persona, “Galesia,” shaped how readers saw her writings into autobiographical works as written by a reliable and virtuous heroine, something the public wanted.

Jane Barker is now being included in feminist revival scholarship, and thus gaining more positive responses from literary historians, and is being recognized when examining female authorship due to her prominent impact on the formation of the novel, highly regarded political texts, and her presence during the time of transition between manuscript readings to print and publishing.