Women and the Rise of the Novel, 1405-1726.

It has long been recognized that women writers played a significant role in the rise of the novel. Women and the Rise of the Novel is the first systematic theoretical study of early modern women's fiction showing how and why it helped shape the novel's identity. While most studies of the origin of the novel begin with the eighteenth century, Donovan traces women's literary traditions from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, focusing on the early modern period as a starting point. She examines works in Italian, French, and Spanish, as well as English, highlighting the contributions of various women writers from Christine de Pizan to Jane Austen. Drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin, Iris Murdoch, and contemporary standpoint theory, the author establishes the novel's character as an ethical case-study. She then shows how early modern women drew upon the theological method of casuistry, which focuses upon individual and ethical case-studies, and the popular framed-novelle genre to establish a feminist prosaics, which became an important factor in the genesis of the novel. It has long been recognized that women writers played a significant role in the rise of the novel. Women and the Rise of the Novel is the first systematic theoretical study of early modern women's fiction showing how and why it helped shape the novel's identity. While most studies of the novel begin with the eighteenth century, Donovan traces women's literary traditions from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, focusing on the early modern period as a starting point. She examines works in Italian, French, and Spanish, as well as English, highlighting the contributions of various women writers from Christine de Pizan to Jane Austen. Drawing upon contemporary standpoint theory and the works of Mikhail Bakhtin and Iris Murdoch, the author characterizes the novel as an ethical case study. She then shows how early modern women drew upon the theological method of casuistry, which focuses upon individual and ethical case studies, as well as the popular framed-novelle genre to establish a feminist prosaics, which became an important factor in the genesis of the novel. Women and the Rise of the Novel, 1405-1726 is the first theoretical study of early modern women's contribution to the rise of the novel. Named in its first edition an "Outstanding Academic Book of the Year," by Choice, this second, expanded edition includes two new chapters that extend its scope to include philosophical writings and memoirs. Unique in its comparative and premodern focus, the study examines works in Italian, French, and Spanish, as well as English, highlighting the contributions of writers from Christine de Pizan and Marguerite de Navarre to Margaret Cavendish and Jane Barker. Donovan shows how these women used the theological method of casuistry and the framed-novelle genre to construct a feminist "prosaics", which was essential to the novel's epistemology "It has long been recognized that women writers played a significant role in the rise of the novel. Women and the Rise of the Novel is the first systematic theoretical study of early modern women's fiction showing how and why it helped shape the novel's identity. While most studies of the origin of the novel begin with the eighteenth century, Donovan traces women's literary traditions from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, focusing on the early modern period as a starting point. She examines works in Italian, French, and Spanish as well as English, highlighting the contributions of various women writers from Christine de Pizan to Jane Austen."--Jacket Cover 1 Contents 8 Introduction 10 1 The Case of the Novel 16 2 Critical Irony, Standpoint Theory, and the Novel 28 3 The Women’s Framed-Novelle: The French Tradition 44 4 The Women’s Framed-Novelle: The Spanish and English Traditions 58 5 Circumstances Alter Cases: Women, Casuistry, and the Novel 74 6 The Nineties Generation: A Feminist Prosaics 94 7 The Case of Violenta 110 8 Women against Romance 128 9 Women and the Latin Rhetorical Tradition 144 Conclusion 160 Notes 162 Index 184 A 184 B 184 C 185 D 186 E 186 F 186 G 187 H 187 I 187 J 187 K 187 L 187 M 188 N 189 O 189 P 189 Q 189 R 189 S 190 T 190 U 191 V 191 W 191 Z 191