Love in Excess

About Eliza Haywood

Eliza Haywood (1693-1756) was an English novelist poet playwright actress and publisher. Notoriously private Haywood is a major figure in English literature about whom little is known for certain. Scholars believe she was born Eliza Fowler in Shropshire or London but are unclear on the socioeconomic status of her family. She first appears in the public record in 1715 when she performed in an adaptation of Shakespeares Timon of Athens in Dublin. Famously portrayed as a woman of ill-repute in Alexander Popes Dunciad (1743) it is believed that Haywood had been deserted by her husband to raise their children alone. Popes account is likely to have come from poet Richard Savage with whom Haywood was friends for several years beginning in 1719 before their falling out. This period coincided with the publication of Love in Excess (1719-1720) Haywoods first and best-known novel. Alongside Delarivier Manley and Aphra Behn Haywood was considered one of the leading romance writers of her time. Haywoods novels such as Idalia; or The Unfortunate Mistress (1723) and The Distressd Orphan; or Love in a Madhouse (1726) often explore the domination and oppression of women by men. The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1751) one of Haywoods final novels is a powerful story of a woman who leaves her abusive husband experiences independence and is pressured to marry once more. Highly regarded by feminist scholars today Haywood was a prolific writer who revolutionized the English novel while raising a family running a pamphlet shop in Covent Gardens and pursuing a career as an actress and writer for some of Londons most prominent theaters.