Women and Literature in Britain, 1700-1800

by Vivien Jones (Editor)

Overview

Women and Literature in Britain, 1700-1800 is unique in providing an authoritative, up-to-date overview of eighteenth-century women's writing and its contexts. The contributors are well-known feminist literary critics, cultural historians and historians of publishing. They discuss the construction of women, and women's writing across a wide range of genres, including essays on ideas of femininity, women and race, changing family structures, women and the law, and women as publishers and as readers. This book will be an invaluable resource both for students and experts in the field.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521586801
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/09/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.79(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction Vivien Jones; Part I. Constructing Women in the Eighteenth Century: Section I. Eighteenth-Century Femininities: 1. Writings on education and conduct: arguments for female improvement Kathryn Sutherland; 2. Eighteenth-century femininity: 'a supposed sexual character' Harriet Guest; 3. Women and race: 'a difference of complexion' Felicity A. Nussbaum; Section II. Women, Family, and the Law: 4. Women's status as legal and civic subjects: 'a worse condition than slavery itself?' Gillian Skinner; 5. Women in families: the great disturbance Ruth Perry; Section III. Women and Print: 6. Women and the business of print Paula McDowell; 7. Women readers: a case study Jan Fergus; Part II. Writing Women in the Eighteenth Century: 8. (Re)discovering women's texts Isobel Grundy; 9. Women and the rise of the novel: sexual prescripts Ros Ballaster; 10. Women poets of the eighteenth century Margaret Anne Doody; 11. Women and the theatre Angela J. Smallwood; 12. Women and popular culture: gender, cultural dynamics, and popular prints Dianne Dugaw; 13. Varieties of women's writing Clare Brant; Guide to further reading.

Editorial Reviews

"This book will be used both as an undergraduate introductory text and resource (it includes an extensive chronology and a guide to further reading) and as a source for further scholarly research." Choice

"...energizing, engaging, and an excellent roundup of perspectives on the state of research on women and their relationships to literature in the eighteenth century." Eighteenth-Century Studies

"This book will be used both as an undergraduate introductory text and resource (it includes an extensive chronology and a guide to further reading) and as a source for further scholarly research." Choice

From the Publisher