author
Eaton Stannard Barrett
1786–1820
Best known for the lively comic novel The Heroine, this Irish writer made his mark with sharp political satire and a playful send-up of romantic fiction. His work caught the attention of later readers for its wit, energy, and early parody of popular literary trends.
1 Audiobook
The Heroine
by Eaton Stannard Barrett
About the author
Born in Cork in 1786, Eaton Stannard Barrett was an Irish poet, novelist, and satirist. Sources agree that he studied at Trinity College Dublin, where he took his BA in 1805, and that he was later admitted to the Middle Temple in London, though he seems to have chosen literature over a legal career.
He is remembered above all for The Heroine (1813), a comic novel that spoofs the habits of romance reading and Gothic fiction. He also wrote political satires and poetry, building a reputation for quick wit and a strong taste for parody.
Barrett died on March 20, 1820. Although not widely known today, he still stands out as an entertaining early nineteenth-century voice whose funniest work gently mocks the books and fashions of his time.