Lady Morgan

Lady Morgan was the public name of Sydney Owenson, an Irish novelist whose fiction joined romance, travel, politics, and criticism of imperial power. The Wild Irish Girl, published in 1806 as a national tale, uses letters from the English visitor Horatio to explore the landscape, culture, and dispossession of Gaelic Ireland through his encounter with Glorvina. The book established Owenson's reputation and became closely associated with her defense of Ireland. The Missionary: An Indian Tale appeared in 1811 and centers on the conflict between Hilarion, a Portuguese Franciscan, and Luxima, an Indian prophetess bound to another religious tradition. Morgan later revised that novel as Luxima, the Prophetess. Her other works include O'Donnel, Florence Macarthy, Italy, and Passages from My Autobiography. Across The Wild Irish Girl and The Missionary: An Indian Tale, Lady Morgan turns cross-cultural attraction into a means of testing conquest, inherited prejudice, religious certainty, and the unequal power behind apparently private relationships.