The Remembrances of Elizabeth Freke 1671–1714

An account of Elizabeth Freke's late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Norfolk gentry world.

Raymond A. Anselment (Edited by)

9780521808088, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 January 2002

364 pages
22.4 x 14.7 x 2.7 cm, 0.585 kg

"With this new edition of her remembrances, Elizabeth Freke can finally take her place among the canon of ealry modern female diarists." Documentary Editing

In writing and then rewriting autobiographical remembrances recalling three decades of marriage and ensuing years of widowhood, Elizabeth Freke strikingly redefines the relationships among self, family, and patriarchy characteristic of early modern women's autobiography. Suffering and sacrifice dominate an extensive ledger of disappointment and bitterness that reveals over time the complex emotions of a Norfolk gentry woman seeking significance and even vindication in her hardships and frustrations. The infirm woman who eventually found herself utterly alone remained to the end a contentious, melodramatic, yet formidable figure - a strong-willed, even sympathetic person intent upon asserting herself against what she perceived as familial neglect and legal abuse. By making available both versions of the remembrances in their entirety, this new, multiple-text edition clarifies the refashioning inherent in each stage of writing and rewriting, recovering with unusual immediacy Freke's late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century domestic world.

Abbreviations
Introduction
I. Remembrances, 1671–1714
II. Remembrances 1671–1713
III. Miscellaneous documents
Index.

Subject Areas: Gender studies: women [JFSJ1], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1], Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]