Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau ( born June 12, 1802 in Norwich, Norfolk Shire, † June 27, 1876 in Ambleside, Westmoreland, Cumbria ) was a British writer who expounded in understandable language the reform- conscious political and scientific ideas of their time in numerous newspaper articles and books. It is regarded as early champion of women's rights and is often referred to as the first feminist sociologist.

Origin and Youth

Harriet Martineau was born into a family that founded the grandfather Gaston Martineau ( Huguenot ) after his flight from France in Protestant England. Her parents were the textile manufacturer Thomas Martineau and Elizabeth Martineau, born Rankin. The younger brother James Martineau later became one of the most renowned religious philosopher of his time. Her childhood she described as difficult and marked by illness and nervousness. Not only touch and sense of taste were impaired, also made ​​in the 12 years a noticeable hearing loss that accompanied them throughout their lives. The then customary role of women been given - While her brothers received a comprehensive education with subsequent opportunity to study or vocational training, would be for them - as well as her sisters. However, after visiting the girls' school, she received a further briefing and excitation by Unitarian clergy. For church music they wrote first contributions to children and the education and poor relief. As a result, you opened a literary career.

Life and work

A major success was the 1832 to 1834 nine -volume work published Illustrations of Political Economy, in which they discussed questions of political economy in the sense of Malthus and Ricardo popular science. Your social reform work was influenced by the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill. From 1834 to 1836 Martineau undertook a journey through North America. From this time their friendship dates back to Margaret Fuller. Upon her return, she lived in London, where she associated in intellectual circles who were close to the liberal Whigs. For this reformist environment out they denounced slavery, the corruption of the clergy and discrimination against women.

Through her ​​articles and books Martineau was their living expenses. While Darwin's later biographers Desmond and Moore criticized their demotic language, already insured Darwin's sisters in letters to him, which anchored off Tierra del Fuego aboard the research vessel Beagle, they have swallowed the "little books" of .. " big London Gesellschaftslöwin " with pleasure as Martineau 1837 Darwin met and read to him from the draft of her novel Deerbrook, he also was impressed that she seemed to shake off the cuff and never correct needed .. A long love affair entertained Martineau to Darwin's older brother Erasmus of their " liquid prose ." She made the acquaintance of many celebrities, including Malthus, who included explicitly praised .. To Martineau ( letter - ) girlfriends for popularizing his ideas Florence Nightingale and Charlotte Brontë.

Disease

On another trip to Italy in 1839 she fell seriously ill. She sought the assistance of her brother Thomas Michael Greenhow, who had settled as a physician in Tynemouth near Newcastle upon Tyne. She was diagnosed with an abdominal tumor a survival rate of five years. While they took opiates for the pain, she hoped also by mesmerism Healing After expiry of the five years, it could be 1845 in the vicinity of the writer William Wordsworth and Matthew Arnold, with whom she was friends, a house build ( The Knoll ) in Ambleside / Cumbria, where they lived for about 30 years. It was now considered recovered and continued her work as an author, also wrote a regular contributor to the London Daily News, which included translations from the French. A free adaptation of Auguste Comte's Cours de philosophie positive appeared 1853. Besides Martineau operation some agriculture, held in the winter courses for workers and from their rented country house in summer guests. From their journeys through England and Ireland, they brought with tour descriptions. The result of their trip to the Orient in 1846 was the portrayal of the transformation of world religions.

Supposed heart problems led in 1856 to the diagnosis that her tumor had grown back considerably. Martineau was supervised, among others, her niece Maria ( which, however, died of typhoid in 1864 ) and their younger sister, Jane (Jenny ). 1866, she had to adapt her writing to illness. Before she signed as many other prominent pioneers of emancipation petition the London Houses of Parliament for women's suffrage. Ten years later she died of bronchitis.

Works

  • Illustrations of taxation; 5 volumes, Charles Fox, 1834
  • Illustrations of Political Economy; 9 volumes, Charles Fox, 1834
  • Miscellanies; 2 volumes, Hilliard, Gray and Co., 1836
  • Society in America; 3 volumes, Saunders and Otley, 1837, new edition, Cambridge University Press, 2009
  • Retrospect of Western Travel, Saunders and Otley, 1838
  • How to Observe Morals and Manners, Charles Knight and Co, 1838
  • Deerbrook; London, 1839
  • The Crofton Boys. A Tale, Charles Knight, 1841
  • Eastern Life. Present and Past, 3 vols, Edward Moxon, 1848
  • With HG Atkinson: Letters on the Laws of Man 's Nature and Development, Chapman, 1851, new edition, Cambridge University Press, 2009
  • The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, selected and translated by M. 2 volumes, Chapman, 1853, new edition, Cambridge University Press, 2009
  • Harriet Martineau 's Autobiography. With Memorials by Maria Weston Chapman, 2 volumes, Smith, Elder & Co, 1877
David Ricardo Jeremy Bentham HMS Beagle Charles Darwin Integrated Authority File
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