The History of British Women's Writing, 700-1500 Volume One [Hardcover]

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.Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors Chronology Introduction: Writing a History of Women's Writing from 700 to 1500; L.Herbert McAvoy ?& D.Watt PART I: PRE-TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Women and the Origins of English Literature; C.A.Lees ?& G.R.Overing Literary Production Before and After the Conquest; C.A.M.Clarke The French of the English and Early British Women's Literary Culture; C.Batt Women Writers in Wales; J.Cartwright Medieval Antifeminism; A.Bernau PART II: BODIES, BEHAVIOURS AND TEXTS Romance; C.Saunders? Saints' Lives; S.Horner? Devotional Literature; M.M.Sauer? Marian Literature; S.Niebryzdowski? Late Medieval Conduct Literature; M.J.Seaman PART III: LITERACIES AND LITERARY CULTURES Women and their Manuscripts; C.M.Meale ? Women and Reading; L.Farina? Women and Networks of Literary Production; E.Robertson? Anonymous Writers; L.H.McAvoy ? Women Translators; A.Barratt? Women's Letters, 1350-1500; J.Daybell PART IV: FEMALE AUTHORITY Christine de Pizan and Joan of Arc; N.B.Warren? Mary of Oignies; J.N. Brown? Bridget of Sweden; L.Saetveit Miles? Catherine of Siena; A.C. Gris?? Julian of Norwich; A.Appleford? Margery Kempe; D.Watt? 'A Revelation of Purgatory'; M.C.Erler Bibliography Index

'This collection is a noteworthy addition to the bibliography on women's contributions to medieval literature...McAvoy and Watt are to be commended for compiling an outstanding collaborative history of women's writings, as well as a significant history of medieval literature. It will be profitably read by anyone interested in medieval literature or women's writing. With its assessments of prior and current scholarship and its generolF