Skip to Main Content

Publishing the Woman Writer in England, 1670-1750

Online ISBN:
9780191981326
Print ISBN:
9780192886293
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Publishing the Woman Writer in England, 1670-1750

Leah Orr
Leah Orr
Associate Professor of English, University of Louisiana, Lafayette
Find on
Published online:
20 July 2023
Published in print:
13 July 2023
Online ISBN:
9780191981326
Print ISBN:
9780192886293
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the “woman writer” emerged as a category of authorship in England. This book seeks to uncover how exactly this happened and the ways publishers tried to market a new kind of author to the public. Based on a survey of nearly 700 works with female authors from this period, this book contends that authorship was constructed, not always by the author, for market appeal, that biography often supported an authorial persona rooted in the genre of the work, and that authorship was a role rather than an identity. Through an emphasis on paratexts, including prefaces, title pages, portraits, and biographical notes, this book analyzes the representation of women writers in this period of intense change to make two related arguments. First, women writers were represented in a variety of ways as publishers sought successful models for a new kind of writer in print. Second, a new approach is needed for studying early women writers and others who occupy gaps in the historical record. This book shows that a study of the material contexts of printed books is one way to work with the evidence that survives. It therefore begins with a very familiar kind of author-centric literary history and deconstructs it to conclude with a reception-centered history that takes a more encompassing view of authorship. In addition to analysis of many little-known and anonymous authors, case studies include Aphra Behn, Catharine Trotter/Cockburn, Laetitia Pilkington, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, and Anne Dacier.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close