ABSTRACT
Charlotte Smith's fiction appeared in Britain from 1788 until 1802. The Banished Man's plot is concerned with events of great actuality: it opens in 1792 with the impact of the Revolutionary wars and covers the execution of King Louis XVI in January 1793 as well as the radical period of the Terror. When Smith's The Banished Man was published in 1794 at the height of the French Revolution, the Analytical Review considered it 'an amende honorable for her past political transgressions'. The reception of 'mistress' Smith's novels is almost entirely favourable from the outset. Given the scarcity of French novel writers, particularly in the first half of the decade, she should be considered an important literary figure in France during the Revolution. The Avant-Propos to Le Proscrit, Marquand's translation of The Banished Man serves as a retrospective review of Smith's appeal in France.
