
Contents
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
LETTERS AS EROTIC SPACE LETTERS AS EROTIC SPACE
-
THREATENED SPACE THREATENED SPACE
-
IMAGINING PRIVATE SPACE IMAGINING PRIVATE SPACE
-
TRANSFORMATIVE SPACE TRANSFORMATIVE SPACE
-
ARCHIVES ARE NOT SANCTUARIES ARCHIVES ARE NOT SANCTUARIES
-
FURTHER READING FURTHER READING
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
36 Desire, Dreams, Disguise: The Letters of Elizabeth Bourne
Get accessDaniel Starza Smith is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature (1500–1700) at King’s College London, having previously held roles at University College London, the University of Reading, and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow. His books include John Donne and the Conway Papers (Oxford University Press, 2014) and, edited with Joshua Eckhardt, Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England (Ashgate, 2014). He is General Editor of the Oxford edition of the letters of John Donne, and, with Jana Dambrogio, is co-director of the Unlocking History research group, researching letterlocking.
Leah Veronese is undertaking her AHRC-funded DPhil in the rhetoric of early modern petition at Balliol College, Oxford. She has worked as a research intern at Lambeth Palace Library and as a research assistant for the Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne and Gateway to Early Modern Manuscripts projects.
-
Published:19 December 2022
Cite
Abstract
The virtually unknown writings of Elizabeth Bourne present remarkable but opaque opportunities to explore the creative interior life of an Elizabethan woman—albeit one in extraordinary circumstances. Subject to domestic violence, Bourne escaped the family home and found protection in a legal guardian, Sir John Conway—with whom she then fell in love. In a series of exchanges with Conway, which included the exchange of books and poetry, Bourne’s letters pick up tropes of literary forms including Spenserian romance, dream visions, Latin translation, coded sexual fantasy, and even intelligence activity. Bourne used her letters to craft a literary space to imagine passion, peace, and happiness. Those letters were themselves subject to misogynistic archival violence in the nineteenth century and come down to us almost by accident. This chapter sets out the literary achievements they preserve for the first time by attending to how Bourne’s writings construct and navigate social networks.
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
January 2023 | 5 |
February 2023 | 9 |
March 2023 | 20 |
April 2023 | 7 |
May 2023 | 5 |
June 2023 | 10 |
July 2023 | 10 |
August 2023 | 5 |
September 2023 | 4 |
October 2023 | 7 |
November 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 7 |
January 2024 | 6 |
February 2024 | 7 |
March 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 1 |
May 2024 | 3 |
June 2024 | 9 |
July 2024 | 1 |
August 2024 | 3 |
September 2024 | 2 |
October 2024 | 6 |
November 2024 | 5 |
December 2024 | 3 |
January 2025 | 3 |
February 2025 | 14 |
March 2025 | 3 |
April 2025 | 9 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.