Reading Early Modern Women's Writing [Hardcover]

This book contains the first comprehensive account of writing by women from the mid sixteenth century through to 1700. At the same time, it traces the way a representative sample of that writing was published, circulated in manuscript, read, anthologized, reprinted, and discussed from the time it was produced through to the present day. Salzman's study covers an enormous range of women from all areas of early modern society, and it covers examples of the many and varied genres produced by these women, from plays to prophecies, diaries to poems, autobiographies to philosophy. As well as introducing readers to the wealth of material produced by women in the early modern period, this book examines changing responses to what was written, tracing a history of reception and transmission that amounts to a cultural history of changing taste.

Introduction: Were They That Name? Categorizing Early Modern Women's Writing
1. The Scope of Early Modern Women's Writing
2. Poets High and Low, Visible and Invisible
3. Mary Wroth: From Obscurity to Canonization
4. Anne Clifford: Writing a Family Identity
5. Prophets and Visionaries
6. Margaret Cavendish and Lucy Huchinson: Authorship and Ownership
7. Saint and Sinner: Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn
Conclusion

Salzman's writing is clear and accessible, and he opens up paths for future study. -Sixteenth Century Journal

Reading Early Modern Women's Writingis a well-researched book that provides suggestive analysis of the uncertain and checkered history of Renaissance and Restoration women's writing. --Modern Philology