Reading Early Modern Women's Writing

by Paul Salzman

Overview

This book contains the first comprehensive account of writing by women from the mid sixteenth century through to 1700. At the same time, it traces the way a representative sample of that writing was published, circulated in manuscript, read, anthologized, reprinted, and discussed from the time it was produced through to the present day. Salzman's study covers an enormous range of women from all areas of early modern society, and it covers examples of the many and varied genres produced by these women, from plays to prophecies, diaries to poems, autobiographies to philosophy. As well as introducing readers to the wealth of material produced by women in the early modern period, this book examines changing responses to what was written, tracing a history of reception and transmission that amounts to a cultural history of changing taste.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199261048
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/08/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

La Trobe University

Table of Contents

Introduction: Were They That Name? Categorizing Early Modern Women's Writing1. The Scope of Early Modern Women's Writing2. Poets High and Low, Visible and Invisible3. Mary Wroth: From Obscurity to Canonization4. Anne Clifford: Writing a Family Identity5. Prophets and Visionaries6. Margaret Cavendish and Lucy Huchinson: Authorship and Ownership7. Saint and Sinner: Katherine Philips and Aphra BehnConclusion

Editorial Reviews

"Salzman's writing is clear and accessible, and he opens up paths for future study."-Sixteenth Century Journal

"Reading Early Modern Women's Writing is a well-researched book that provides suggestive analysis of the uncertain and checkered history of Renaissance and Restoration women's writing." —Modern Philology

From the Publisher