Writing Women in Jacobean England - Hardcover

Lewalski, Barbara Kiefer

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9780674962422: Writing Women in Jacobean England

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674962427 ISBN 13: 9780674962422

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1993

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When was feminism born - in the 1960s, or in the 1660s? For England, one might answer: the early decades of the seventeenth century. James I was King of England, and women were expected to be chaste, obedient, subordinate, and silent. Some, however, were not, and these are the women who interest Barbara Lewalski - those who, as queens and petitioners, patrons and historians and poets, took up the pen to challenge and subvert the repressive patriarchal ideology of Jacobean England. Setting out to show how these women wrote themselves into their culture, Lewalski rewrites Renaissance history to include some of its most compelling - and neglected - voices.
As a culture dominated by a powerful Queen gave way to the rule of a patriarchal ideologue, a woman's subjection to father and husband came to symbolize the subjection of all English people to their monarch, and all Christians to God. Remarkably enough, it is in this repressive Jacobean milieu that we first hear Englishwomen's own voices in some number. Elizabeth Cary, Aemilia Lanyer, Rachel Speght, and Mary Wroth published original poems, dramas, and prose of considerable scope and merit; others inscribed their thoughts and experiences in letters and memoirs. Queen Anne used the court masque to assert her place in palace politics, while Princess Elizabeth herself stood as a symbol of resistance to Jacobean patriarchy. By looking at these women through their works, Lewalski documents the flourishing of a sense of feminine identity and expression in spite of - or perhaps because of - the constraints of the time. The result is a fascinating sampling of Jacobean women's lives and works, restored to their rightful place in literary history and cultural politics.
In these women's voices and perspectives, Lewalski identifies an early challenge to the dominant culture - and an ongoing challenge to our understanding of the Renaissance world.

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About the Author:

Barbara Lewalski is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English Literature and of History and Literature, and Director of Graduate Studies in English at Harvard University. She has been named honored scholar by the Milton Society of America, and has served as President of that organization and of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women. Her numerous publications include "Milton's Brief Epic: The Genre, Meaning and Art of "Paradise Regained"" (1966)," Protestant Poetics and the Seventeenth Century Religious Lyric" (1979, winner of the James Russell Lowell Prize of the Modern Language Association)," Paradise Lost and the Rhetoric of Literary Forms" (1985), "Writing Women in Jacobean England" (1993), and "The Polemics and Poems of Rachel Speght" (editor, 1996).

From Library Journal:

In early 17th-century England, an era known for patriarchy and repression, women were expected to know their place and keep silent. Yet male domination was resisted and challenged by some of these women in their domestic lives and through their letters, diaries, poetry, and drama. In this thoroughly researched volume of criticism, Lewalski analyzes the long-ignored writing of such women as Elizabeth Cary, Aemilia Lanyer, Rachel Speght, and Mary Wroth, as well as Queen Anne and Princess Elizabeth. Their writings provide valuable insight into the roles women played in the literary and social milieu of Jacobean England. An important contribution to the study of English literature and feminism that will encourage further investigation of a neglected era, this book is highly recommended for all academic libraries.
- Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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