Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. vii, 264 pages; 24 cm

Summary

1. God's Englishwomen investigates the writings of women in the radical sects of the seventeenth century through the lens of feminist literary criticism. It confirms the significance of these remarkable texts for contemporary literary studies and contributes to the dialogue between feminism and Renaissance studies. Hilary Hinds introduces readers to new primary sources and presents them in a relevant and accessible way to the twentieth-century reader. This book offers a detailed study of the spiritual autobiographies and prophecies produced by Quaker, Baptist and Fifth Monarchist women, and asks how such a proliferation of texts was produced in a culture dismissive of women's writing. Each chapter introduces new material through a discussion of existing critical and theoretical work on the gendering of authors, texts and readers respectively. Finally, the appendices reproduce substantial selections from previously unavailable seventeenth-century texts discussed in the book.

Alternative title

1. Seventeenth-century radical sectarian writing and feminist criticism

Subject

1. Christian literature, English -- History and criticism.
2. Dissenters, Religious, in literature.
3. English literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism.
4. English literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism.
5. Feminism and literature -- England -- History -- 17th century.
6. Women and literature -- England -- History -- 17th century.
7. Authorship -- Sex differences -- History -- 17th century.
8. Radicalism in literature.
9. Renaissance -- England.
10. Feminism.
11. England -- Intellectual life -- 17th century.
12. English literature Special subjects Christianity.

Genre/Form

1. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
2. History

Contents

1. 1. Sectarian writing, the literary canon, and feminist criticism -- 2. Configurations of femininity: the bodies and souls of seventeenth-century women -- 3. 'By the dumb she meaneth herself': silences in radical sectarian women's writing -- 4. 'There is no self in this thing': the disappearing author -- 5. 'Look into the written word': language practice, writing and gender in the radical sects -- 6. 'Who may bind where God hath loosed?': responses to sectarian women's writing -- 7. 'It's weakness that is the woman': readings of Priscilla Cotton and Mary Cole's To the Priests and People of England (1655) -- A Mary Cary: from The Little Horn's Doom and Downfall (1651) -- B Elinor Channel: from A Message from God, By a Dumb Woman (1654) -- C Priscilla Cotton and Mary Cole: To the Priests and People of England (1655) -- D Dorothy Waugh: 'A relation concerning Dorothy Waugh's cruel usage by the Mayor of Carlisle' (1656).

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Language

1. English

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-257) and index.