Women's Writing in English: Early Modern England

by Patricia Demers

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Published: March 2005

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Imprint: University of Toronto Press

Page Count: 304 Pages

Dimensions: 5.50 x 8.53

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304 Pages, 5.50 x 8.53 x 1.09 in

Paperback

$45.95

ISBN: 9780802086648

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Description
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In this introduction to the diversity and scope of the writing by women in England from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Patricia Demers discusses the creative realities of women writers' accomplishments and the cultural conditions under which they wrote.

There were deep suspicions and restrictions surrounding the education of women during this period, and thus the contributions of women to literature, and to the print industry itself, are largely unknown. This wide-ranging examination of the genres of early modern women's writing embraces translation (from Latin, Greek, and French) in the fields of theological discourse, romance and classical tragedy, original meditations and prayers, letters and diaries, poetry, closet drama, advice manuals, and prophecies and polemics. A close study of six major authors – Mary Sidney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Tanfield Cary, Lady Mary Wroth, Margaret Cavendish, and Katherine Philips – explores their work as poets, dramatists, and romantic fiction writers. Demers invites readers to savour the subtlety and daring with which these women authors made writing an expressly social craft.

Patricia Demers is a distinguished university professor in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta.

Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Studying Early Modern Women Writers

2. Women in Early Modern England
Chiselling the Image, Unwinding the Rhetoric
Reading Early Modern Women's Writing
Educating Women
Praising and Blaming Women
Wiving and Thriving
Childbearing

3. The Genres of Early Modern Women's Writing
Translation
Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Roper, Elizabeth Tudor, Mary Bassett
Jane Lumley, the Cooke Sisters, Anne Vaughan Lock, Margaret Tyler, Mary Sidney Herbert
Theological Debate, Romantic Intrigue, and Classical Tragedy: Elizabeth Cary, Judith Man, Katherine Philips
Meditations and Testimonials
Prayers
Letters and Diaries
Poetry
Elizabethan poets: Isabella Whitney, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Anne Vaughan lock, Lady Mary Sidney Herbert, Anne Dowriche, Elizabeth Melville
Esther Inglis and Elizabeth Jane Weston in the Republic of Letters
Jacobean polemical Talents: Aemilia Lanyer, Bathsua Reginald, Rachel Speght, Mary Wroth
Caroline, protectorate, and Restoration Poets' Complication of Early Modern Selfhood: Diana Primrose, Mary Fage, An Collins, 'Eliza', Elizabeth Major, Gertrude Thimelby, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Cavendish, Katherine Philips
Drama and the Dramatic
'Closet' Drama: translations, Adaptations, Original Creations
Mothers' Advice Books: Elizabeth Grymeston, Dorothy Leigh, Elizabeth Clinton, Elizabeth Joscelin, Elizabeth Richardson
Prophecies and Polemics, Petitions and Missionary Accounts: Radical Women and Godly Zeal

4. Six Major Authors
Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561-1621)
Aemilia Lanyer (1569-1645)
Elizabeth Tanfiled Cary, Viscountess of Falkland (1585-1639)
Lady Mary Wroth (1587-1653)
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673)
Katherine Philips, the Matchless Orinda (1632-1664)

‘In this clearly written book, Patricia Demers provides an informative analysis of how early modern women writers contributed to the structure of the period’s world of thought and demonstrates a wide breadth of scholarship in the area. Demers writes with energy and vitality, and the large historical range she surveys provides coverage not always seen in studies of this kind. Students being introduced to the field will find in this book a wealth of valuable information and clear, direct analysis while more experienced scholars will appreciate the opportunity of finding references to less familiar authors and forms of writing.’
Linda Vecchi, Department of English Language and Literature, Memorial University of Newfoundland

‘With this new work, Patricia Demers offers exciting insights into the connections between well-known women writers of the early modern period, and those less well known. For the student, it opens up the world of early modern women’s writing, and for the specialist, it offers numerous fresh and provocative ideas about individual women’s texts, as well as a judicious assessment of the present state of contemporary scholarship. Particularly excellent are the careful and nuanced readings of the rhetoric of women’s defences and the treatment of the social, political, and gendered anxieties of both male-authored attacks on, and defences of, women.’
Marie H. Loughlin, Department of English, Okanagan University College

Gender Studies / Women's Studies

Literary Studies / Early Modern Literature

Literary Studies / English Literature (18th century)

Women's Writing in English: Early Modern England

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