The History of British Women's Writing, 1690 - 1750 : Volume Four

This volume charts the most significant changes for a literary history of women in a period that saw the beginnings of a discourse of 'enlightened feminism'. It reveals that women engaged in forms old and new, seeking to shape and transform the culture of letters rather than simply reflect or respond to the work of their male contemporaries. There is a palpable sense of a transforming culture at the end of one century and the beginning of another in the writing of women between 1690 and 1750. This volume charts the most significant changes for a literary history of women: the beginnings of a discourse of 'enlightened' feminism, the response by women writers to the Cartesian and natural scientific revolutions of the later seventeenth centuries, and attempts by women both as writers and publishers to exploit the new possibilities in literary culture attendant on the establishment of new financial institutions . Contributions to this volume demonstrate that women were engaging in forms old and new in ways that sought to shape and transform rather than simply reflect or respond to the work of their male contemporaries. This is one of the earliest periods in which we can begin to recognise women as enjoying 'careers' as writers, experiencing public success through both print and manuscript circulation, name recognition, and sometimes indeed living by their writing. Chapters give generous space to close and attentive reading of the rich and creative texts produced by these writers. The quality and significance of individual writers' works is assessed in each essay as well as writers' contribution to specific discourses and contemporary debates of relevance to their position as women Front Matter....Pages i-xxvi Introduction....Pages 1-16 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 Woman’s Place....Pages 19-39 Luxury....Pages 40-60 The Country and the City....Pages 61-78 Front Matter....Pages 79-79 The Politics and Aesthetics of Dissent....Pages 81-95 The Scriblerian Project....Pages 96-112 Women Writers and the Rise of the Novel....Pages 113-124 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 Scribal and Print Publication....Pages 127-144 Drama....Pages 145-155 The Periodical....Pages 156-172 Letters and Learning....Pages 173-186 Front Matter....Pages 187-187 Religious Love....Pages 189-200 Erotic Love....Pages 201-214 The Love of Friendship....Pages 215-231 Front Matter....Pages 233-233 Critical Review....Pages 235-251 Back Matter....Pages 252-282 This period witnessed the first full flowering of women's writing in Britain. This illuminating volume features leading scholars who draw upon the last 25 years of scholarship and textual recovery to demonstrate the literary and cultural significance of women in the period, discussing writers such as Austen, Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley.