Commerce, Luxury, and Identity in Mary Robinson’s Memoirs

Mary Robinson’s poetical and prose output conjures up a variety of images of commercialized and culturally thriving urban settings, among which emerge those of London and her native Bristol. These representations are particularly significant in the context of contemporary depictions of the author as the figurehead of a culture dominated by spectacle, commerce, and luxury. Returning to this intersection of consumption and identity, rich both in personal intimations and public resonance, this essay recovers and assesses the relevance of luxury in Robinson’s acts of discursive self-presentation and self-construction, particularly her Memoirs (1801). In this fashion, it seeks to highlight how Robinson rescues luxury from hostile images of herself to harness it to a revisionary narrative of identity grounded in the opulent lifestyle of her Bristol childhood.