The History of British Women's Writing, 1830-1880 : Volume Six

This volume charts the rise of professional women writers across diverse fields of intellectual enquiry and through different modes of writing in the period immediately before and during the reign of Queen Victoria. It demonstrates how, between 1830 and 1880, the woman writer became an agent of cultural formation and contestation, appealing to and enabling the growth of female readership while issuing a challenge to the authority of male writers and critics. Of especial importance were changing definitions of marriage, family and nation, of class, and of morality as well as new conceptions of sexuality and gender, and of sympathy and sensation. The result is a richly textured account of a radical and complex process of feminization whereby formal innovations in the different modes of writing by women became central to the aesthetic, social, and political formation of British culture and society in the nineteenth century. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxix Introduction: The ‘Business’ of Writing Women (Lucy Hartley)....Pages 1-20 Front Matter ....Pages 21-21 The Feminisation of Literary Culture (Joanne Shattock)....Pages 23-38 Gender, Authorship, and the Periodical Press (Alexis Easley)....Pages 39-55 The Professional Woman Writer (Linda K. Hughes)....Pages 56-70 Front Matter ....Pages 71-71 Mapping the Nation: Scotland and Britain (Suzanne Gilbert)....Pages 73-90 Representing Ireland (Margaret Kelleher)....Pages 91-106 Runaway Discourse: Women Write Slavery, Race, and Empire (Cora Kaplan)....Pages 107-124 Women Writers and the Provincial Novel (Josephine McDonagh)....Pages 125-142 Library Lives of Women (Susan David Bernstein)....Pages 143-159 Front Matter ....Pages 161-161 Travel Writing (Ella Dzelzainis)....Pages 163-177 Religious Genres (Julie Melnyk)....Pages 178-195 Women Playwrights and the London Stage (Sharon Aronofsky Weltman)....Pages 196-211 Life Writing (Valerie Sanders)....Pages 212-228 Scientific and Medical Genres (Claire Brock)....Pages 229-243 Front Matter ....Pages 245-245 Creativity (Alison Chapman)....Pages 247-263 Sensation, Art, and Capital (Lucy Hartley)....Pages 264-281 Writing across the Class Divide (Florence S. Boos)....Pages 282-302 Friendship and Intimacy (Jill Rappoport)....Pages 303-319 Sympathy (Carolyn Burdett)....Pages 320-335 Back Matter ....Pages 336-349 Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Series Editors’ Preface 11 Acknowledgements 12 Notes on Contributors 13 Chronology by Pamela Wolpert 17 Introduction: The ‘Business’ of Writing Women 29 Part I. Divisions of Writing 49 1 The Feminisation of Literary Culture 50 2 Gender, Authorship, and the Periodical Press 66 3 The Professional Woman Writer 83 Part II. Reading Places 98 4 Mapping the Nation: Scotland and Britain 99 5 Representing Ireland 117 6 Runaway Discourse: Women Write Slavery, Race, and Empire 133 7 Women Writers and the Provincial Novel 151 8 Library Lives of Women 169 Part III. Writing Genres 186 9 Travel Writing 187 10 Religious Genres 202 11 Women Playwrights and the London Stage 220 12 Life Writing 236 13 Scientific and Medical Genres 253 Part IV. Reading Women Writing Modernity 268 14 Creativity 269 15 Sensation, Art, and Capital 286 16 Writing across the Class Divide 304 17 Friendship and Intimacy 325 18 Sympathy 342 Select Critical Bibliography 358 Index 366 This volume focuses on women's literary history in Britain between 700 and 1500. It brings to the fore a wide range of women's literary activity undertaken in Latin, Welsh and Anglo-Norman alongside that of the English vernacular, demanding a rethinking of the traditions of literary history, and ultimately the concept of 'writing' itself. "Volume 1 focuses on women's literary history in Britain between 700 and 1500. It brings to the fore a wide range of women's literary activity undertaken in Latin, Welsh and Anglo-Norman alongside that of the English vernacular, demanding a rethinking of the traditions of literary history, and ultimately the concept of 'writing' itself