Women, Authorship and Literary Culture, 1690 - 1740

Sarah Prescott discusses the careers of a number of key women writers of the period from 1690 to 1740, exploring the role played by geographical location, literary circles, patronage, the literary marketplace, and subscription publication in shaping patterns of female authorship. The volume also provides a wealth of detail about the circumstances which affected the careers of individual women as well as investigating the marketing, reception, and self-representation of women writers in general. The dominant model of female authorship in the period 1690-1740 is London-centred, professional and fiction-oriented. In this engaging study, Sarah Prescott argues that alternative contexts for publication and different models of authorship were equally influential in shaping women's involvement in literary culture. In addition to acknowledging the impact of literary London on the careers, images and publication patterns of a variety of women writers, Prescott stresses the importance of provincial networks and non-metropolitan literary systems. The focus on alternative locations and contexts as influences on women writers does not mean that the commercial side of female authorship is neglected. Rather, women could use provincialism, and all it implied, as a way to shape their literary authority and market their work. This study provides an exciting and thought-provoking revision of our current conceptions of women's participation in literary culture. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Figures......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Introduction: Relocating Women’s Literary History......Page 12 Part I: Women and Authorship......Page 24 1 Authorship for Women: Careers and Contexts......Page 26 2 Negotiating Authorship: Women’s Self-Representations......Page 50 Part II: Authorship and Economics......Page 78 3 Marketing the Woman Writer: Commercial Strategies......Page 80 4 Making a Living: Booksellers, Patronage and Subscription......Page 114 Part III: The Literary Career of Elizabeth Singer Rowe......Page 150 5 Gender, Authorship and Whig Poetics......Page 152 6 Provincial Networks, Dissenting Connections and Noble Friends......Page 178 Notes......Page 198 Bibliography......Page 222 Index......Page 236