A Companion to Early Modern Women's Writing [Paperback]

• 
  
• Brings together more than twenty leading international scholars to provide the definitive survey volume to the field of early modern women's writing
  
• Examines individual texts, including works by Mary Sidney, Margaret Cavendish and Aphra Behn
  
• Explores the historical context and generic diversity of early modern women's writing, as well as the theoretical issues that underpin its study
  
• Provides a clear sense of the full extent of women's contributions to early modern literary culture

Notes on Contributors x

Introduction xiv

PART ONE Contexts 1

1 Women and Education 3
Kenneth Charlton

2 Religion and the Construction of the Feminine 22
Diane Willen

3 Women, Property and Law 40
Tim Stretton

4 Women and Work 58
Sara H. Mendelson

5 Women and Writing 77
Margaret J. M. Ezell

PART TWO Readings 95

6 Isabella Whitney, A Sweet Nosegay 97
Patricia Brace

7 Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, Psalmes 110
Debra K. Rienstra

8 Aemilia Lanyer, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum 125
Susanne Woods

9 Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam and History 136
Elaine Beilin

10 Mary WrotlC(