Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

LITERARY STUDIESWomen’s Writing in EnglishEarly Modern EnglandPatricia DemersIn this introduction to the diversity and scope ofthe writing by women in England from the beginningof the sixteenth century to the restoration ofthe monarchy in 1660, Patricia Demers discussesthe creative realities of women writers’ accomplishmentsand the cultural conditions under which theywrote.There were deep suspicions and restrictionssurrounding the education of women during thisperiod, and thus the contributions of women toliterature, and to the print industry itself, arelargely unknown. This wide-ranging examinationof the genres of early modern women’s writingembraces translation (from Latin, Greek, andFrench) in the fields of theological discourse,romance and classical tragedy, original meditationsand prayers, letters and diaries, poetry, closetdrama, advice manuals, and prophecies andpolemics. A close study of six major authors –Mary Sidney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth TanfieldCary, Lady Mary Wroth, Margaret Cavendish, andKatherine Philips – explores their work as poets,dramatists, and romantic fiction writers. Demersinvites readers to savour the subtlety and daringwith which these women authors made writing anexpressly social craft.Patricia Demers is a professor in the Department ofEnglish at the University of Alberta.Approx. 480 pp / 5 1 /2 x 8 1 /2 / April 20055 halftonesCloth ISBN 0-8020-8710-8 £42.00 $65.00 EPaper ISBN 0-8020-8664-0 £21.50 $32.95 C‘In this clearly written book, Patricia Demers provides aninformative analysis of how early modern women writerscontributed to the structure of the period’s world of thoughtand demonstrates a wide breadth of scholarship in the area.Demers writes with energy and vitality, and the large historicalrange she surveys provides coverage not always seen instudies of this kind. Students being introduced to the fieldwill find in this book a wealth of valuable information andclear, direct analysis while more experienced scholars willappreciate the opportunity of finding references to less familiarauthors and forms of writing.’Linda Vecchi, Department of English Language andLiterature, Memorial University of NewfoundlandWomen’s Writing in EnglishSeries Editor: Gary Kelly, University of AlbertaUTP is pleased to announce that it hasacquired the Women’s Writing in Englishseries. The volumes in this new and excitingseries place women’s cultural work in social andhistorical contexts and are designed to open upthe writers and texts under consideration tostudents, teachers, and scholars in literary andcultural studies, education, social history, andwomen’s studies. They survey women’s writingof the time and place, offering careful and freshreadings of ‘major’ and ‘minor’ authors andgenres. Through chronologies, bibliographies,and volume-specific websites, the series providessupporting materials for historical-criticalstudy of individual books and authors, as wellas historical movements.18