SOURCE: "The Repression of Hester Lynch Piozzi; or, How We Forgot a Revolution in Authorship," in Modern Language Studies, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, Winter, 1988, pp. 99-111.

In the following essay, McCarthy discusses Piozzi's stature among literary scholars and remarks on the revival of interest in her works as fueled by feminist criticism.

Let me introduce my subject with a bit of dialogue, a very short dialogue in which I was fairly often engaged seven or eight years ago:

A Colleague (to me): Who are you writing about?
I: Hester Lynch Piozzi.

(Blank look.)

I (trying to be polite): You know, "Dr. Johnson's
Mrs. Thrale"?

Colleague: Oh, Mrs. Thrale .. . didn't they have an
affair or something?

This is not an exact transcription, but it is representative enough. And it represents a great deal. Before we unpack it, however, let us first, by way of contrast, establish some facts about Piozzi...