Calls for Book or Chapter Proposals on ‘Early Modern Women’s Writing, 1550 – 1700
Vernon Press invites book proposals on the theme: ‘Early Modern Women’s Writing, 1550 – 1700,’ for our book series in History. All areas of study, with a common goal of representing the creation, exchange, and reception of literature written by women in the early modern period, are encouraged to submit, including disciplines such as Women’s Studies, Art, and Music.
The early modern era can be considered a pivotal period in feminist awareness (Ostovich and Sauer, 2004), due in part to increasing levels of female literacy. Writing, reading, and printing afforded women the freedom to negotiate individual performances and social forms of agency in public, allowing them to start navigating a previously male-dominated sphere.
Although regulated by social and religious codes, women’s practices of devotional reading, writing, and dissemination are considered key to both an understanding of the Reformation and the female condition in the early modern period.
The scope of the present call is broad. All issues stemming from the transmission and translation of female-authored texts to the self-fashioning of the female self will be considered. Possible topics include (non-comprehensive list):
- The notion of authorship
- The emergence of the female writer and the fashioning of the female self
- The effect of gender on the reception and/ or circulation of texts
- Cross-cultural encounters: the circulation of texts, ideas, and reputations across national and linguistic boundaries
- Physiology of reading: Readerly consumption as an active, transformative process.
- Women as patrons
- The role of mediators, collaborators, and publishers
- Women religious: female writers and religion
- Visual and/ or textual representation of female writers