Material Cultures of Early Modern Women's Writing

This collection examines the diverse material cultures through which early modern women's writing was produced, transmitted, and received, focusing on the ways it was originally packaged and promoted, how it circulated in its contemporary contexts, and how it was read and received in its original publication and in later revisions and redactions. In doing so, Material Cultures of Early Modern Women's Writing offers an account of the ways in which cultural mediation shapes our interpretations of early modern women's texts. The collection draws upon recent concepts of publication as 'event' - multiple, choral and occurring across different modes and times - in order to expand our conception of who early modern women writers were, how they wrote and circulated their texts, and how the reception of their work over time determines who and what is read now. Collectively, the essays in this book challenge not only how we read, analyse and value early modern women's writing, but also our understanding of the production, transmission, and reception of early modern literature more broadly.