ABSTRACT
Tensions spark across the anecdotes when Anna Seward turns to the forceful themes relating to parental control, which ignited her own self-conflict between independence and obedience. Each of the anecdotes is built around a central concept, some of which relate to class and wealth, while others are a negative expression on the institution of marriage. Seward’s letters to Emma confirm her view that the circulation and publication of anecdotes was a practice that was perfectly well accepted by the literary establishment and the reading public. The personal nature of anecdotes was controversial as, for the price of a book, readers could purchase intimate details of the famous. The complexity of courtship and marriage negotiations is expressed through anecdotes about Seward’s friends and her sister in far more detail than in the story of the duel. A letter filled with contemplative musing on the view from the terrace of the Bishop’s Palace, closes the juvenile correspondence to Emma.
