Elizabeth Kerr Coulson was an English novelist who published under the pseudonym Roxburghe Lothian. Her two-volume work of historical fiction

Historical fiction

Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...

, Dante

DANTE

Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...

 and Beatrice

Beatrice Portinari

Beatrice "Bice" di Folco Portinari was a Florentine woman known as the muse of the poet Dante Alighieri. Beatrice was the principal inspiration for Dante's Vita Nuova, and also appears as his guide in the Divine Comedy in the last book, Paradiso, and in the last four canti of Purgatorio...

 from 1282 to 1290: A Romance, was published only three weeks before her death. Her fictionalized autobiography Lizzie Lothian appeared posthumously.

She died at Bellaport Old Hall, near the village of Norton in Hales

Norton in Hales

Norton in Hales is a village and parish in Shropshire, England.It lies on the A53 between the town of Market Drayton and Woore, Shropshire's most northeasterly village and parish.Staffordshire is to the east of the parish and Cheshire to the west...

 in Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

.

Dante and Beatrice

Reviews of Dante and Beatrice were mixed. The Edinburgh Review noted that the author, assumed to be a man, showed "keen appreciation of the social aspects of Florentine

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 life at this period

Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...

, with its vivid contrasts of light and shade." Lothian's "gifts of deep feeling and sympathetic fancy" combined with "careful antiquarian

Antiquarian

An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...

 study" were praised, though it was admitted that the characters are "somewhat fantastical."

The British Quarterly Review likewise acknowledged the book's antiquarian value as a "handbook" of the period's "manners, customs, literature, laws, religion, architecture." The biographical facts pertaining to Dante and Beatrice's lives, however, are handled with fictional license, sometimes to the point of contradiction. The author is praised for "his" learning, productive effort, and descriptive powers, but the anonymous reviewer concludes that "dramatic imagination is altogether wanting" and "the book is a museum rather than a stage."

Source

• Susan Brown, Patricia Clements, Isobel Grundy. "Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present.The Orlando Project.

External links

• http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3A(texts)%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20(subject%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20Kerr%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Coulson%2C%20E%2E%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20Kerr%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Coulson%2C%20E%2E%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Elizabeth%20Kerr%20Coulson%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Elizabeth%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22E%2E%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20Kerr%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20Kerr%2C%20Sir%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20E%2E%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%2C%201819-1876%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20Kerr%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20E%2E%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Elizabeth%20Kerr%20Coulson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Elizabeth%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22E%2E%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Elizabeth%20Kerr%20Coulson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Elizabeth%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22E%2E%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Elizabeth%20Kerr%20Coulson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Elizabeth%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22E%2E%20K%2E%20Coulson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20Kerr%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Coulson%2C%20E%2E%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Coulson%2C%20Elizabeth%20K%2E%20%28Elizabeth%20Kerr%29%22)Works by or about Elizabeth Kerr Coulson] at Internet Archive
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  (scanned books original editions color illustrated) - includes Dante and Beatrice from 1282 to 1290: A Romance