Women's Writing in the British Atlantic World : Memory, Place and History, 1550–1700

In this 2007 book, Kate Chedgzoy explores the ways in which women writers of the early modern British Atlantic world imagined, visited, created and haunted textual sites of memory. Asking how women's writing from all parts of the British Isles and Britain's Atlantic colonies employed the resources of memory to make sense of the changes that were refashioning that world, the book suggests that memory is itself the textual site where the domestic echoes of national crisis can most insistently be heard. Offering readings of the work of poets who contributed to the oral traditions of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and analysing poetry, fiction and life-writings by well-known and less familiar writers such as Hester Pulter, Lucy Hutchinson and Aphra Behn, this book explores how women's writing of memory gave expression to the everyday, intimate consequences of the major geopolitical changes that took place in the British Atlantic world in the seventeenth century. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction: 'A place on the map is also a place in history' 11 Chapter 1 'The rich Store-house of her memory': The metaphors and practices of memory work 26 The metaphors of memory work 30 Commonplace culture and the pedagogy of memory 41 'Katherine Thomas her book' 51 Chapter 2 'Writing things down has made you forget': Memory, orality and cultural production 58 Materializing social memory: oral cultural practices 63 Women's voices 72 Recollecting the celtic past 79 Memory, oracy and modernity 86 Chapter 3 Recollecting women from early modern Ireland, Scotland and Wales 90 Ireland 90 Scotland 107 Wales 121 Chapter 4 'Shedding teares for England's loss': Women's writing and the memory of war 135 'A monument for her memory': Anne Bradstreet 137 'Halcyon dayes': Elizabeth Brackley, Jane Cavendish and Hester Pulter 145 'Treacherous memory'? Lucy Hutchinson 163 Memory and hope 174 Chapter 5 Atlantic removes, memory's travels 178 'My thoughts are upon things past': Mary Rowlandson 183 'Lives that possibly wou'd be forgotten by other Historians': Aphra Behn 196 Conclusion 208 Notes 210 Introduction 210 1 'The rich store-house of her memory' 213 2 'Writing Things Down Has Made You Forget' 219 3 Recollecting women from early modern Ireland, Scotland and Wales 226 4 'Shedding teares for England's loss' 234 5 Atlantic removes, memory's travels 240 Conclusion 244 Bibliography 245 Manuscripts consulted 245 Published works 246 Unpublished MA and Ph.D. theses 264 Websites 264 Index 265 "Kate Chedgzoy explores the ways in which women writers of the early modern British Atlantic world imagined, visited, created and haunted textual sites of memory. Asking how women's writing from all parts of the British Isles and Britain's Atlantic colonies employed the resources of memory to make sense of the changes that were refashioning that world, the book suggests that memory is itself the textual site where the domestic echoes of national crisis can most insistently be heard. Offering readings of the work of poets who contributed to the oral traditions of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, alongside analyses of poetry, fiction and life-writings by well-known and less familiar writers such as Hester Pulter, Lucy Hutchinson, Mary Rowlandson and Aphra Behn, the book explores how women's writing of memory gave expression to the everyday, intimate consequences of the major geopolitical changes that took place in the British Atlantic world in the seventeenth century."--Jacket Kate Chedgzoy explores the ways in which women writers of the early modern British Atlantic world imagined, visited, created and haunted textual sites of memory. Asking how women's writing from all parts of the British Isles and Britain's Atlantic colonies employed the resources of memory to make sense of the changes that were refashioning that world, the book suggests that memory is itself the textual site where the domestic echoes of national crisis can most insistently be heard. Offering readings of the work of poets who contributed to the oral traditions of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, and analysing poetry, fiction and life-writings by well known and less familiar writers such as Hester Pulter, Lucy Hutchinson and Aphra Behn, this book explores how women's writing of memory gave expression to the everyday, intimate consequences of the major geopolitical changes that took place in the British Atlantic world in the seventeenth century.

Explores the work of women writers in the early modern British Atlantic world.