Bluestockings: Women of Reason from Enlightenment to Romanticism (Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Cultures of Print)

Bluestockings: Women of Reason from Enlightenment to Romanticism explores the cultural history of women's literary and intellectual activity in Britain between 1750 and 1812. Richard Samuel's painting, The Nine Living Muses of Great Britain (1779), forms the starting point and guiding motif of the book. Samuel depicted Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith, Elizabeth Carter, Charlotte Lennox, Elizabeth Linley, Angelica Kauffman, Catharine Macauley, Anna Barbauld and Hannah More. Together these women formed an important network of artists and intellectuals, who contributed to the central cultural transformations of their time. Women forged a sense of community through their innovative use of patronage, conversation and correspondence. In the bluestocking salon these arts were developed to new levels of moral significance and provided the basis for women's involvement with the formal literary genres of their time, including Shakespearean criticism and poetry. This book highlights women's role in shaping an evolving national canon of literature. It also considers how the cultural anxiety caused by their very success in the public sphere of letters caused a new generation of male Romantics to displace women from their position of power. "Bluestockings participated in the first wide-scale creation of a national culture. Exploring the tension between individual and collective models of authorship, Eger draws on visual and printed materials and unpublished manuscripts to argue for the enduring relevance of rational argument in the history of womens' writing"--Provided by publisher This study argues that female networks of conversation, correspondence and patronage formed the foundation for women's work in the 'higher' realms of Shakespeare criticism and poetry. Eger traces the transition between Enlightenment and Romantic culture, arguing for the relevance of rational argument in the history of women's writing. Bluestockings: Women of Reason from Enlightenment to Romanticism explores the cultural history of women's literary and intellectual activity in Britain between 1750 and 1812. Richard Samuel's painting, The Nine Living Muses of Great Britain (1779), forms the starting point and guiding motif of the book. Samuel depicted Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith, Elizabeth Carter, Charlotte Lennox, Elizabeth Linley, Angelica Kauffman, Catharine Macauley, Anna Barbauld and Hannah More. Together these women formed an important network of artists and intellectuals, who contributed to the central cultural transformations of their time. Women forged a sense of community through their innovative use of patronage, conversation and correspondence. In the bluestocking salon these arts were developed to new levels of moral significance and provided the basis for women's involvement with the formal literary genres of their time, including Shakespearean criticism and poetry. This book highlights women's role in shaping an evolving national canon of literature. It also considers how the cultural anxiety caused by their very success in the public sphere of letters caused a new generation of male Romantics to displace women from their position of power Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of Plates......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 10 List of Abbreviations......Page 12 Textual Note on Elizabeth Montagu’s Correspondence......Page 13 Introduction: The Nine Living Muses of Great Britain......Page 16 1 Living Muses: the Female Icon......Page 47 2 The Bluestocking Salon: Patronage, Correspondence and Conversation......Page 74 3 'Female Champions': Women Critics of Shakespeare......Page 136 4 The Bluestocking Legacy in the Romantic Era......Page 178 Conclusion......Page 218 Notes......Page 226 Bibliography......Page 260 C......Page 285 G......Page 286 L......Page 287 P......Page 288 S......Page 289 Z......Page 290 Machine generated contents note: ContentsIntroduction Living Muses: The cultural significance of the female iconCircles of learning in the bluestocking salon: patronage, correspondence and conversation'Female champions': The Shakespeare criticism of Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Griffith and Charlotte LennoxThe rational muse: the bluestocking legacy in the Romantic eraBibliographyIndex.