The Cambridge Companion to Early Modern Women's Writing

Ideal for courses, this Companion examines the range, historical importance, and aesthetic merit of women's writing in Britain, 1500–1700.

Laura Lunger Knoppers (Edited by)

9780521885270, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 October 2009

340 pages, 15 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.66 kg

'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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]