Women writers
Juliana Berners
1388?-
England
Women had been authors of works prior to the printing press and published books as early as the period of printing "incunubla" with the advent of the printing press. One such woman was Dame Juliana Berners, about which very little is known besides the fact that she was the prioress of the Priory of St. Mary of Sopwell and that she is credited with writing The Boke of Saint Albans, a book about hawking, hunting, fishing, and coat of arms.
Through writing and publishing this book she achieved many firsts in book history: "the first use of colour printing in England...the first printed text in English of veterinary interest" the first work by anyone, male or female, about sport fishing, "the first book printed in English by a woman, the first to include a list of collective nouns, and also the first list of recognised dog breeds" (Bloomsbury House, 2013; Cambridge University Library). Her writing on fishing, particularly angling would not become "accepted and advocated in the angling world until 400 years after publication" although it remains valid today (Petri). Juliana Berners is an example of a woman writer who not only makes book history but who also made significant contributions through her book to the fields of science and sport.
The portrait images (above and below right) are purportedly images of Juliana Berners. The book image (below left) is the colored coat of arms section from the second edition of The Boke of Saint Albans.
1388?-
England
Women had been authors of works prior to the printing press and published books as early as the period of printing "incunubla" with the advent of the printing press. One such woman was Dame Juliana Berners, about which very little is known besides the fact that she was the prioress of the Priory of St. Mary of Sopwell and that she is credited with writing The Boke of Saint Albans, a book about hawking, hunting, fishing, and coat of arms.
Through writing and publishing this book she achieved many firsts in book history: "the first use of colour printing in England...the first printed text in English of veterinary interest" the first work by anyone, male or female, about sport fishing, "the first book printed in English by a woman, the first to include a list of collective nouns, and also the first list of recognised dog breeds" (Bloomsbury House, 2013; Cambridge University Library). Her writing on fishing, particularly angling would not become "accepted and advocated in the angling world until 400 years after publication" although it remains valid today (Petri). Juliana Berners is an example of a woman writer who not only makes book history but who also made significant contributions through her book to the fields of science and sport.
The portrait images (above and below right) are purportedly images of Juliana Berners. The book image (below left) is the colored coat of arms section from the second edition of The Boke of Saint Albans.
Images retrieved from: http://www.igfa.org/Museum/HOF-Berners.aspx (top left); http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1036559 (bottom left); http://www.heraldicjewelry.com/2/archives/10-2012/1.html (bottom right)
Dames des Roches
Madeleine Neveu (1520-1587) & Catherine Fradonnet (1542-1587)
France
...these two ladies are so learned, and have such a vast knowledge of all good literature that (on top of the published testimony to that effect by the most erudite minds of France) their own writings are that learning's most true and faithful expression, and as much the writings they have published as those which are as yet unpublished. - La Croix du Maine, 1584.
Mother and daughter, the Dames des Roches were popular writers in France during the late sixteenth-century and "published a substantial body of work, consisting of poems, prose dialogues of a philosophical and pedagogical nature, translations of Latin texts, letters, and even a tragicomedy on a biblical subject" (Sankovitch, 1988, pp. 43). They came from a upper-middle class background and were well educated. Catherine never married so that after the death of Madeleine's second husband, mother and daughter spent their remaining years without patriarchal imposition on their activities, thus likely allowing them considerable time to write and further their own humanist and literary education.
The Dames des Roches were at the center of literary circles in France and, although women, contributed to the humanist discourse developing during the time and were some of the earliest authors to work in "the collaborative model of salon writing" which would become common during the 17th century (Pendergrass, 2005). They are also the first writers to publish letters in France. Modern scholars and writers have frequently pointed to them as early examples of modern feminism, having held strong beliefs and written about the constraints imposed by parents, husbands, and the law on female edification and advocated education for girls.
Madeleine Neveu (1520-1587) & Catherine Fradonnet (1542-1587)
France
...these two ladies are so learned, and have such a vast knowledge of all good literature that (on top of the published testimony to that effect by the most erudite minds of France) their own writings are that learning's most true and faithful expression, and as much the writings they have published as those which are as yet unpublished. - La Croix du Maine, 1584.
Mother and daughter, the Dames des Roches were popular writers in France during the late sixteenth-century and "published a substantial body of work, consisting of poems, prose dialogues of a philosophical and pedagogical nature, translations of Latin texts, letters, and even a tragicomedy on a biblical subject" (Sankovitch, 1988, pp. 43). They came from a upper-middle class background and were well educated. Catherine never married so that after the death of Madeleine's second husband, mother and daughter spent their remaining years without patriarchal imposition on their activities, thus likely allowing them considerable time to write and further their own humanist and literary education.
The Dames des Roches were at the center of literary circles in France and, although women, contributed to the humanist discourse developing during the time and were some of the earliest authors to work in "the collaborative model of salon writing" which would become common during the 17th century (Pendergrass, 2005). They are also the first writers to publish letters in France. Modern scholars and writers have frequently pointed to them as early examples of modern feminism, having held strong beliefs and written about the constraints imposed by parents, husbands, and the law on female edification and advocated education for girls.
Images retrieved from: http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/scholarlyresources/portfolio/gordon/literary/desroches/puce.html
Aphra Behn
1640?-1689
England
All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds... Behn proved that money could be made by writing at the sacrifice, perhaps, of certain agreeable qualities; and so by degrees writing became not merely a sign of folly and a distracted mind but was of practical importance - Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own
Aphra Behn was a 17th century poet, novelist, and playwright that began writing to support herself after her husband's death, serving as a German spy, and being imprisoned for debt. She likely had a lower socioeconomic class background and is thus one of the first literary women without a family from the upper echelons of society.
Aphra Behn contributed to the history of the book in significant ways. First, she is credited as the first woman to make a living through her writing, thus requiring her to rival her male counterparts at the time for her very survival. Widowed and in debt she began supporting herself "by writing plays for the London theater, and later novels for print" (Smith). She is also credited with writing "the first novel which tried to deal with the African as a human being" and even the "first anti-slavery novel" in Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave (Huntting). She also wrote the first surviving play to be set in a North American colony, The Widow Ranter, which was a "critique of both colonial Virginia and the English political situation at the time" (Copeland). Although very popular during her time her works often provoked controversy due to her strong opinions on gender and race and her inclusion of erotic and "immoral" references.
The images include a painted portrait of Behn, c. 1670 (top), a catalog of her works (bottom left), a copy of her play, The Widow Ranter and corresponding image (bottom center), and the title-page of her novel, Oroonoko; or the Royal Slave (bottom right).
1640?-1689
England
All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds... Behn proved that money could be made by writing at the sacrifice, perhaps, of certain agreeable qualities; and so by degrees writing became not merely a sign of folly and a distracted mind but was of practical importance - Virginia Woolf in A Room of One's Own
Aphra Behn was a 17th century poet, novelist, and playwright that began writing to support herself after her husband's death, serving as a German spy, and being imprisoned for debt. She likely had a lower socioeconomic class background and is thus one of the first literary women without a family from the upper echelons of society.
Aphra Behn contributed to the history of the book in significant ways. First, she is credited as the first woman to make a living through her writing, thus requiring her to rival her male counterparts at the time for her very survival. Widowed and in debt she began supporting herself "by writing plays for the London theater, and later novels for print" (Smith). She is also credited with writing "the first novel which tried to deal with the African as a human being" and even the "first anti-slavery novel" in Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave (Huntting). She also wrote the first surviving play to be set in a North American colony, The Widow Ranter, which was a "critique of both colonial Virginia and the English political situation at the time" (Copeland). Although very popular during her time her works often provoked controversy due to her strong opinions on gender and race and her inclusion of erotic and "immoral" references.
The images include a painted portrait of Behn, c. 1670 (top), a catalog of her works (bottom left), a copy of her play, The Widow Ranter and corresponding image (bottom center), and the title-page of her novel, Oroonoko; or the Royal Slave (bottom right).
Images retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aphra_Behn_by_Peter_Lely_ca._1670.jpg (top); http://www.library.unt.edu/rarebooks/exhibits/women/17th.htm#AphraBehn (left); http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=4017&showpreview=1 (center); http://www.nancyhuntting.net/Sem-ABehn.html (right)
Elizabeth Melville
1582?-1640
Scotland
Although few records exist regarding Melville's life, it is know that she was the daughter of a statesman in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots and King James VI. Considering her father's position as a member of the courtly class, Elizabeth is likely to have received a good education and been involved in the religious, political, and cultural discourse of her time. She married a man who accepted a position as head of the monastic community of Culross Abbey (pictured left) and thus furthered her religious involvement and influence.
Elizabeth Melville has the honor of being the first woman to be published in Scotland with her work Ane Godlie Dreame (images pictured below, center and right). The frontispiece indicates that she wrote this work at the request of friends, which not only serves the "almost prerequisite humility topos of the early woman writer" but also suggests her public recognition and respect "as preacher and visionary" (Dunnigan, 2003, pp. 415). She had strong protestant beliefs which she presented in this book through "the imagery and teachings of medieval dream vision poetry" so as to be acceptable to the public which it was, being "reprinted many times over the following two centuries" and even considered to be "the inspiration for Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress" (Undiscovered).
1582?-1640
Scotland
Although few records exist regarding Melville's life, it is know that she was the daughter of a statesman in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots and King James VI. Considering her father's position as a member of the courtly class, Elizabeth is likely to have received a good education and been involved in the religious, political, and cultural discourse of her time. She married a man who accepted a position as head of the monastic community of Culross Abbey (pictured left) and thus furthered her religious involvement and influence.
Elizabeth Melville has the honor of being the first woman to be published in Scotland with her work Ane Godlie Dreame (images pictured below, center and right). The frontispiece indicates that she wrote this work at the request of friends, which not only serves the "almost prerequisite humility topos of the early woman writer" but also suggests her public recognition and respect "as preacher and visionary" (Dunnigan, 2003, pp. 415). She had strong protestant beliefs which she presented in this book through "the imagery and teachings of medieval dream vision poetry" so as to be acceptable to the public which it was, being "reprinted many times over the following two centuries" and even considered to be "the inspiration for Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress" (Undiscovered).
Images retrieved from: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/m/elizabethmelville.html (top); http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Poems-Elizabeth-Melville,-Lady-Culross-Elizabeth-Melville/9780956603302 (bottom left); http://eebo.chadwyck.com/search/full_rec?SOURCE=pgimages.cfg&ACTION=ByID&ID=V6633&FILE=&SEARCHSCREEN=param(SEARCHSCREEN)&VID=6633&PAGENO=2&ZOOM=FIT&VIEWPORT=&SEARCHCONFIG=param(SEARCHCONFIG)&DISPLAY=param(DISPLAY)&HIGHLIGHT_KEYWORD=undefined (bottom center); http://www.nls.uk/blogs/500years/index.cfm/2008/8/26/Elizabeth-Melvilles-Godly-Dream (bottom right)
Sophia Lee
1750-1824
England
Sophia Lee was the eldest daughter of two traveling actors. It's speculated that her childhood was rather unstable, moving often and encountering at least two instances when her father was placed in debtor's prison, the first time leaving her family without any financial support, the second time with her imprisoned as well. Her mother is believed to have died first; upon her father's death Lee published works she'd already completed to help support herself and her sisters. From her publications she lived reasonably well and, with her sisters, opened a school.
Sophia Lee’s The Recess is significant to the history of historical fiction due to its use of a commonly-known historical figure as well as its inclusion in the sub-genre of a novel of sensibility and influence on Gothic novels and authors such as Ann Radcliffe and Sir Walter Scott. Lee held true to the depiction of Mary Stuart by “Georgian historians” but using fiction to “incorporate normally buried affective details…as a…exaggeration of another aspect of…[the] historiographical method” (Lewis, 1995, pp. 174). “The attraction of historical subjects in fiction…depends entirely upon the existence of a considerable body of written history, and on the public acquaintance with it” (Saintsbury, 1895, pp. 4). Its emotional, sentimentality puts it in the sub-genre of a novel of sensibility while it’s tragedy and suspense adds it as an early example of a Gothic novel. Critics since its publication challenged its Georgian portrayal of the Elizabethan setting and characters (noting discrepancies in speech and behavior) and also discredited it based on its emphasis on women and domesticity, although works such as this were one of the few avenues for depicting women's lives.
1750-1824
England
Sophia Lee was the eldest daughter of two traveling actors. It's speculated that her childhood was rather unstable, moving often and encountering at least two instances when her father was placed in debtor's prison, the first time leaving her family without any financial support, the second time with her imprisoned as well. Her mother is believed to have died first; upon her father's death Lee published works she'd already completed to help support herself and her sisters. From her publications she lived reasonably well and, with her sisters, opened a school.
Sophia Lee’s The Recess is significant to the history of historical fiction due to its use of a commonly-known historical figure as well as its inclusion in the sub-genre of a novel of sensibility and influence on Gothic novels and authors such as Ann Radcliffe and Sir Walter Scott. Lee held true to the depiction of Mary Stuart by “Georgian historians” but using fiction to “incorporate normally buried affective details…as a…exaggeration of another aspect of…[the] historiographical method” (Lewis, 1995, pp. 174). “The attraction of historical subjects in fiction…depends entirely upon the existence of a considerable body of written history, and on the public acquaintance with it” (Saintsbury, 1895, pp. 4). Its emotional, sentimentality puts it in the sub-genre of a novel of sensibility while it’s tragedy and suspense adds it as an early example of a Gothic novel. Critics since its publication challenged its Georgian portrayal of the Elizabethan setting and characters (noting discrepancies in speech and behavior) and also discredited it based on its emphasis on women and domesticity, although works such as this were one of the few avenues for depicting women's lives.
Images retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sophia_Lee_Ridley.jpg (top); http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?action=interpret&doc&source=library&docLevel=TEXT_GRAPHICS&tabID=T001&prodId=ECCO&userGroupName=ind23892&bookId=1470001800&&contentSet=ECCOArticles&version=1.0&finalAuth=true (bottom)
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
1835-1915
England
Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in London to a father who worked as a solicitor and writer. Mary's family was working to get out of debt when, in 1839, her parents separated, leaving Mary to live with her mother who helped her pursue a career at a young age as an actress for the theater.
While Wilkie Collins is considered the King of the Sensation Novel, Mary Elizabeth Braddon should be considered the Queen. The sensation novel, as described in 1863 by H. L. Mansel as “preaching to the nerves instead of the judgment,” was a new genre of fiction developed in the Victorian era (Allingham). Braddon was incredibly popular, mostly as a novelist but always for writing plays, essays, short stories and poems, and for her work as an editor of "two literary magazines most closely associated with the Sensation Novel, Temple Bar and Belgravia" (Allingham). Although until recently overlooked, she used her position as a well-read novelist to put forth a socialist and feminist agenda, including aspects of grave concern to women in the Victorian era in her writing such as women's occupations, legislation regarding divorce and separation, and even early concepts around physical and mental illness.
The images below include copies of original book dust wrappers (top left and center) published around the turn of the century for two of the more than 80 novels written during her lifetime; a page from Once A Week, a Victorian literary magazine, showing the inclusion of one of Braddon's works (top right); Belgravia, a social and literary magazine edited by Braddon (bottom left); and the first page of a letter from John Gilby, patron of Braddon, to her revealing his desire to help her develop herself as a writer and her social standing and hinting at a potential romantic inclination on his part for her (bottom right).
1835-1915
England
Mary Elizabeth Braddon was born in London to a father who worked as a solicitor and writer. Mary's family was working to get out of debt when, in 1839, her parents separated, leaving Mary to live with her mother who helped her pursue a career at a young age as an actress for the theater.
While Wilkie Collins is considered the King of the Sensation Novel, Mary Elizabeth Braddon should be considered the Queen. The sensation novel, as described in 1863 by H. L. Mansel as “preaching to the nerves instead of the judgment,” was a new genre of fiction developed in the Victorian era (Allingham). Braddon was incredibly popular, mostly as a novelist but always for writing plays, essays, short stories and poems, and for her work as an editor of "two literary magazines most closely associated with the Sensation Novel, Temple Bar and Belgravia" (Allingham). Although until recently overlooked, she used her position as a well-read novelist to put forth a socialist and feminist agenda, including aspects of grave concern to women in the Victorian era in her writing such as women's occupations, legislation regarding divorce and separation, and even early concepts around physical and mental illness.
The images below include copies of original book dust wrappers (top left and center) published around the turn of the century for two of the more than 80 novels written during her lifetime; a page from Once A Week, a Victorian literary magazine, showing the inclusion of one of Braddon's works (top right); Belgravia, a social and literary magazine edited by Braddon (bottom left); and the first page of a letter from John Gilby, patron of Braddon, to her revealing his desire to help her develop herself as a writer and her social standing and hinting at a potential romantic inclination on his part for her (bottom right).
Images retrieved from: http://www.nndb.com/people/124/000102815/ (top); http://19thcenturybloomsburybooks.blogspot.com/ (bottom left); http://books.google.com/books?id=NyYGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false (bottom left); http://gabymalcolm.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/blogging-braddon-4-titillation-and-tactility-in-the-tally-ho-letter-from-john-gilby-to-mary-braddon-1860/ (bottom right)
Virginia Woolf
1882-1941
England
Since the only test of truth is length of life, and since words survive the
chops and changes of time longer than any other substance, therefore they are the truest. Buildings fall; even the earth perishes. What was yesterday a cornfield is to-day a bungalow. But words, if properly used, seem able to live for ever - Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf was born into a very prestigious, family in England, who were also very open-minded. Her family background afforded her an excellent education and good social connections. Although very successful and creative, Woolf struggled with mental illness and died by committing suicide.
Woolf argued for the historical fiction genre which had become marginalized and stressed that it had become “focused on the trivial and insubstantial when it should focus on the complexity of human experience, feeling, and knowledge” (Phillpott, 2005, pp. 9) She was able to revitalize this genre and recreate it as a postmodernist writer. Postmodern historical fiction demonstrates “that both history and fiction are discourses, that both constitute systems of signification by which we make sense of the past” rather than placing either in a context of “fact” (Hutcheon,1988, pp. 89). Postmodern historical fiction is opposite from earlier works in this genre. It does not illustrate“the emergence of the nation, but the ravages of empire; not progress as emancipation, but impending or consummated catastrophe. In Joycean terms, history as a nightmare from which we still cannot wake up.” (Anderson, 2011, pp. 26). Through her works Woolf also "raises issues of feminism, mental illness and homosexuality" and experimented with various literary tools "including compelling and unusual narrative perspectives, dream-states, and free association prose" (Biography).
Woolf was a savvy business woman, owning her own press, and writer, understanding the slightest implications of specific actions in her trade such as signing a copy of a book for a bookseller as can be seen in her response for such a request (bottom left) and was considered to be important to the literary culture that biographies were written of her during her life like Flush (top center). She also took notes in her own reading, often to help her write essays about other authors or literature like her notes on Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (top left). In correspondence with friends Woolf discusses issues important for women such as the importance "that women should learn to write" in an exchange with Katherine Mansfield (top right). The final images included (bottom center and right) are covers of two of her significant works to her career and the literary world.
1882-1941
England
Since the only test of truth is length of life, and since words survive the
chops and changes of time longer than any other substance, therefore they are the truest. Buildings fall; even the earth perishes. What was yesterday a cornfield is to-day a bungalow. But words, if properly used, seem able to live for ever - Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf was born into a very prestigious, family in England, who were also very open-minded. Her family background afforded her an excellent education and good social connections. Although very successful and creative, Woolf struggled with mental illness and died by committing suicide.
Woolf argued for the historical fiction genre which had become marginalized and stressed that it had become “focused on the trivial and insubstantial when it should focus on the complexity of human experience, feeling, and knowledge” (Phillpott, 2005, pp. 9) She was able to revitalize this genre and recreate it as a postmodernist writer. Postmodern historical fiction demonstrates “that both history and fiction are discourses, that both constitute systems of signification by which we make sense of the past” rather than placing either in a context of “fact” (Hutcheon,1988, pp. 89). Postmodern historical fiction is opposite from earlier works in this genre. It does not illustrate“the emergence of the nation, but the ravages of empire; not progress as emancipation, but impending or consummated catastrophe. In Joycean terms, history as a nightmare from which we still cannot wake up.” (Anderson, 2011, pp. 26). Through her works Woolf also "raises issues of feminism, mental illness and homosexuality" and experimented with various literary tools "including compelling and unusual narrative perspectives, dream-states, and free association prose" (Biography).
Woolf was a savvy business woman, owning her own press, and writer, understanding the slightest implications of specific actions in her trade such as signing a copy of a book for a bookseller as can be seen in her response for such a request (bottom left) and was considered to be important to the literary culture that biographies were written of her during her life like Flush (top center). She also took notes in her own reading, often to help her write essays about other authors or literature like her notes on Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina (top left). In correspondence with friends Woolf discusses issues important for women such as the importance "that women should learn to write" in an exchange with Katherine Mansfield (top right). The final images included (bottom center and right) are covers of two of her significant works to her career and the literary world.
Images retrieved from: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/29/craftsmanship-virginia-woolf-speaks-1937/ (top); http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/rarebook/exhibitions/penandpress/ (top row and bottom row left and center); http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/10/11/virginia-woolf-orlando-lesbian-readings/ (bottom row right)
Soundbyte retrieved from: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/29/craftsmanship-virginia-woolf-speaks-1937/
Soundbyte retrieved from: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/04/29/craftsmanship-virginia-woolf-speaks-1937/