Charlotte Riddell, born Charlotte Eliza Lawson Cowan, is one of the most prolific and well-known Victorian female novelists. Hailing from Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, it was in London in 1855 that the young author began to pursue her career. Shortly after the death of her father, the high sheriff of Co. Antrim, she and her invalid mother moved to London. There she went on to publish over fifty volumes of fiction in her lifetime, including some forty novels.
The majority of Riddell’s works are written in a three volume form, along with various collections of short stories. In 1858 she began writing under the pseudonym of F G Trafford, under which her first novel, The Moors and the Fens, was published. She continued to conceal her authorship until 1864. A Struggle for Fame was originally published in 1883 and was published again in 2014 with a striking new cover which raises the question of feminine identity, a theme central to the text.
A Struggle for Fame is Riddell’s autobiography to some extent. The novel tells the tales of two young Irish emigrants who arrived in London determined to achieve wealth and fame. The author bases the character, Glen Westly, upon herself, and with the depiction of childhood onwards, there are similarities which continue right up until her death. Westly, like the author, is from Ballyshane in the West of Ireland. The character and Riddell both reminisce upon childhood days spent there.
The impulsive young girl convinces her father to cross the ocean and start a new life with her. While Glen works tirelessly to fulfil her writing ambitions, the old man mourns the loss of his hometown and fellow villagers until his eventual death. Westly finds that her opportunities are limited as “Irish stories are quite gone out” of fashion and publishers, such as Mr P Vassett, don’t take books written by women seriously.
Barney Kelly is the other young Irish person who decides to seek his fortunes in England. The brazen and charming Kelly faces the same prejudiced attitude and discrimination in London as a result of his class and nationality. He goes to live with Mat Donagh, a family friend. Originally from Ireland, Donagh has managed to lose all traces of his Irish accent and manner in order to fit the ideal image of a London gentleman. He maintains a snobbish attitude towards his guest, referring to him at one point as a “barely civilised creature”. Kelly gets a taste for the affluent lifestyle in Abbey Cottage and becomes perpetually dissatisfied with the amount of wealth that he possesses, constantly desiring more. However, after a hilarious confusion involving his Uncle Mr Balmoy, Kelly’s rags to riches tale appears to be over, and he embarks on a path that he never foresaw himself taking.
Riddell delivers fantastic character insights throughout, with every person encountered behaving in a believable and lifelike manner. She establishes relatable and lovable figures which the reader finds themselves inadvertently rooting for. On the other hand, in certain parts, A Struggle for Fame can also be a frustrating read. The triple-decker volume can be quite limiting when it comes to plot progression. Although Riddell’s descriptive prose is nothing short of excellent, this is often at the expense of action. She must also be commended on her defiance of tropes and predictability. The reader is never fully sure as to what twist or turn the narrative will take and the ending is atypical for a female, Victorian author’s narrative. This unpredictability relies heavily upon a great amount of coincidence and sheer luck, which feature regularly amongst proceedings.
However, the fact that such a novel has been republished in the 21st century forces the reader to ask themselves some difficult questions. Has society really changed in the last two centuries? Do the various racial, gender and class biases that are depicted still exist today? The modern reader may even accuse the author of racial stereotyping. The wild, whiskey-drinking Kelly and the impulsive, sprightly Westly, clash with the comparatively cold and uncompromising English. This depiction is certainly problematic. Whether one contends this issue or not, the narrative of an outsider looking in upon a society and criticising the various attitudes and customs that are evident is still certain to resonate with readers of today.
