Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650-1100

Description

Women's literary histories usually start in the later Middle Ages, but recent scholarship has shown that actually women were at the heart of the emergence of the English literary tradition. Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650-1100 focuses on the period before the so-called 'Barking Renaissance' of women's writing in the 12th century. By examining the surviving evidence of women's authorship, as well as the evidence of women's engagement with literary culture more widely, Diane Watt argues that early women's writing was often lost, suppressed, or deliberately destroyed. In particular she considers the different forms of male 'overwriting', to which she ascribes the multiple connotations of 'destruction', 'preservation', 'control' and 'suppression'. She uses the term to describe the complex relationship between male authors and their female subjects to capture the ways in which texts can attempt to control and circumscribe female autonomy. Written by one of the leading experts in medieval women's writing, Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650-1100 examines women's literary engagement in monasteries such as Ely, Whitby, Barking and Wilton Abbey, as well as letters and hagiographies from the 8th and 9th centuries. Diane Watt provides a much-needed look at women's writing in the early medieval period that is crucial to understanding women's literary history more broadly.

Diane Watt is Professor of English at the University of Surrey, UK. Her previous books include The History of British Women's Writing, 700 to 1500 (2012, co-edited with Liz Herbert McAvoy), and Medieval Women's Writing: Works by and for Women in England, 1100-1500 (2007).

[A] sustained and compelling case for the critical role played by women in the literary culture of the early medieval period. Widely lauded for its detective work, Watt's book not only presents the fruits of her investigation by highlighting and bringing to our attention women and works that have been overlooked, the book also demonstrates the investigative methods and speculative processes that enable, and indeed necessitate, a recalibration of academic perspective toward the period. * The Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures * Watt's most important argument is that we should think of medieval authorship as fundamentally collaborative ... Edith [of Wilton]'s story, and that of the women who promoted her cult in the century after her death, shows the value of Watt's undertaking. Shining a light on medieval women's writing brings their other kinds of authority into focus. * London Review of Books * Watt's work is exciting because it asks us to look afresh at surviving material, but it also reminds us how much has been lost ... [An] ambitious and refreshing work that will still remain shapely after extensive nibbling, infused as it is with scholarly knowledge and a love for English literary 'foremothers.' * The New York Review of Books * Her groundbreaking - and I don't use that word lightly - study suggests that yes, there were many women writers in the early Middle Ages ... This is real literary detective work in action, and it paves the way for more of the same. * Times Higher Education * A magnificent piece of detective work, which pulls together fragments of evidence to make a compelling case for the importance of religious women in early medieval English literary culture ... A book which deserves to be widely read. * Women's History Review * At a time when issues surrounding gender diversity and inclusion still dominate headlines, Watt's book highlights the integral role early women's writing had on English literary history. From poets and patrons to archivists and authors, Watt amplifies the voices of these overlooked women writers, putting their achievements center stage. * The Medieval Magazine * This is a theoretically dense book with a wealth of documentation on the high status women of Anglo-Saxon England. The light it throws on the interconnection of the ecclesiastical and political realms means that its interest extends beyond the purely literary. * Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association * At last we have a book filling in the gaps in our understanding of the participation of women within the literary culture of the early Middle Ages. Watt brings together a wealth of convincing evidence and establishes herself as a leading pioneer of the painstaking detective work necessary to cast light upon the history of women's intellectual endeavour, from the early medieval period to the present day. -- Professor Liz Herbert McAvoy, Swansea University, UK