The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Women's Writing
Featuring the most frequently taught female writers and texts of the early modern period, this Companion introduces the reader to the range, complexity, historical importance, and aesthetic merit of women's writing in Britain from 1500–1700. Presenting key textual, historical, and methodological information, the volume exemplifies new and diverse approaches to the study of women's writing. The book is clearly divided into three sections, covering: how women learnt to write and how their work was circulated or published; how and what women wrote in the places and spaces in which they lived, worked, and worshipped; and the different kinds of writing women produced, from poetry and fiction to letters, diaries, and political prose. This structure makes the volume readily adaptable to course usage. The Companion is enhanced by an introduction that lays out crucial framework and critical issues, and by chronologies that situate women's writings alongside political and cultural events.
- Includes a comprehensive chronology listing women's printed and manuscript texts alongside political and cultural events, allowing students to situate a writer or work in relation to historical events
- Carefully structured to be easily adapted for course usage, and to meet the needs of students
- Covers a wide range of literary and non-literary genres, providing a comprehensive view of women's writing
Reviews & endorsements
'This welcome volume showcases how far the study of early modern women's writing has come in the last few decades.' The English Historical Review
'This volume serves as an excellent introduction to early modern English women's writing. The collection will be of use to anyone trying to get to grips with the breadth and variety of early modern women's writing.' History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland
Product details
November 2012Adobe eBook Reader
9781139798778
0 pages
0kg
15 b/w illus.
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- Introduction: critical framework and issues Laura Lunger Knoppers
- Part I. Material Matters:
- 1. Women's handwriting Heather Wolfe
- 2. Reading women Edith Snook
- 3. Manuscript miscellanies Victoria E. Burke
- 4. Women, the material book, and early printing Marcy L. North
- Part II. Sites of Production:
- 5. Women in educational spaces Caroline Bowden
- 6. Women in the household Wendy Wall
- 7. Women in church and in devotional spaces Elizabeth Clarke
- 8. Women in the royal courts Karen Britland
- 9. Women in the law courts Frances E. Dolan
- 10. Women in healing spaces Mary E. Fissell
- Part III. Genres and Modes:
- 11. Translation Danielle Clarke
- 12. Letters James Daybell
- 13. Autobiography Ramona Wray
- 14. Lyric poetry Helen Wilcox
- 15. Narrative poetry Susanne Woods
- 16. Prophecy and religious polemic Hilary Hinds
- 17. Private drama Marta Straznicky
- 18. Public drama Derek Hughes
- 19. Prose fiction Lori Humphrey Newcomb.