Description
Book SynopsisLong considered marginal in early modern culture, women writers were actually central to the development of a Protestant literary tradition in England, Kimberly Anne Coles argues. This book is full of prevalent material and fresh analysis for scholars of early modern literature, culture and religious history.
Trade ReviewReview of the hardback: 'Coles's innovative arguments are forcefully articulated and developed with attention to a variety of forms of evidence ranging from close reading of passages to analysis of publication histories. This book represents an important addition to a by now well-established scholarly conversation concerning early modern women's writings.' Nancy Bradley Warren, The Journal of British Studies
Review of the hardback: 'This book will certainly stimulate discussion in the years to come, for it not only offers compelling interpretations of individual texts, but it also asks us to take another look at the enormously complex development of religious poetry and the role that women played in sorting out cultural cross-currents.' Micheline White, Reformation
Review of the hardback: 'Coles's willingness to make bold arguments for the cultural significance of women's writing is a welcome advancement of the field.' Erica Longfellow, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature
'… this is a fine piece of research that is compellingly argued and genuinely sheds new light on our understanding of early modern women's writing and its influence.' Literature and History
Table of ContentsIntroduction: making sects: women as reformers, writers and subjects in Reformation England; 1. The death of the author (and the appropriation of her text): the case of Anne Askew's Examinations; 2. Representing the faith of a nation: transitional spirituality in the works of Katherine Parr; 3. '[A] pen to paynt': Mary Sidney Herbert and the problems of a Protestant poetics; 4. A New Jerusalem: Anne Lok's 'Meditation' and the lyric voice; 5. 'A Womans writing of diuinest things': Aemilia Lanyer's passion for a professional poetic vocation; Afterword.
