Women's Reading in Britain, 1750-1835: A Dangerous Recreation

by Jacqueline Pearson

Overview

The growth of female reading audiences from the mid-eighteenth century to the early Victorian era represents both a vital episode in women's history and a highly significant factor in shaping the literary production of the period. This book offers the first broad overview and detailed analysis of this growing readership, its representation in literature, and its influence. Jacqueline Pearson examines both historical women readers, including Laetitia Pilkington, Elizabeth Carter, Frances Burney and Jane Austen, and a wide range of texts in which the figure of the woman reader is important.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521584395
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/27/1999
Series:	Studies in Renaissance Literature and CU
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Pygmalionesses and the pencil under the petticoat: Richardson, Johnson and Byron; 2. What should girls and women read? 3. The pleasures and perils of reading; 4. Pleasures and perils of reading: some case histories; 5. Where and how should women read? 6. Preparing for equality: class, gender, reading; 7. A dangerous recreation: women and novel reading; Conclusion; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Jacqueline Pearson offers a sweeping survey of attitudes toward women's reading and thoroughly examines the precarious, inconsistent status of women readers in this well-documented book. Drawing from an impressive array of primary sources, including periodicals, letters, and memoirs, Pearson exposes the ambivalent reactions to women's literary activity. This book is a valuable addition to the increasing number of studies on the growth of literacy and print culture. The breadth of Pearson's research does not replace close analyses and clear explanations, and there is a careful balance of major and minor women writers that should appeal to scholars interested in a more complete picture of the time period." British and American Literatures

"...the picture that Pearson paints is both fascinating and elusive..." Eighteenth-Century Studies

"...Pearson genuinely contributes to readers' knowledge of an important chapter in the history of women's literacy. Recommended for all undergrasuate and graduate collections." Choice

"...thoroughly researched and extremely informative book..." Eighteenth Century Fiction

"...the largest survey to date of the many different voices, speakers, and positions within the fraught debate about whether and how women should read. This book offers an overview of many sites of the reading debate..." Studies in English Literature

"This book is compelling reading for scholars of the novel and for general readers alike." Burney Letter

From the Publisher

Women's Reading covers a lot of ground and offers illuminating insights into the underlying question raised by Bacon and Johnson. This is a landmark study, in every sense a noble companion for Kate Flint's The Woman Reader.
—Times Literary Supplement

Alies Wiersma