Write or be Written : Early Modern Women Poets and Cultural Constraints

A collection of essays that look at early modern writers, reflecting the broad range of approaches and methodologies in the modern era. Topics covered include contextualizing the self, female discursive strategies, religious discourses and gender, writing a female space; and negotiating power.

Although the field of early modern women''s studies has blossomed in recent years, little attention has been paid to women poets of the period. This new collection is specifically designed to fill the gap, applying new critical methodologies and theories to this group of early modern writers. Write or Be Written also contributes to ongoing debates about canonicity, periodicity, disciplinarity, and the construction of knowledge. The essays in this volume reflect today''s sophisticated critical thinking, and represent a broad range of approaches and methodologies. Topics covered include contextualizing the self; female discursive strategies; religious discourses and gender; writing a female space; negotiating power and desire; female writing and the marketplace/publishing; and revisions of male-dominated poetic conventions and traditions.