Women writers played a central role in the literature and culture of eighteenth-century Britain. Featuring essays on female writers and genres by leading scholars in the field, this Companion introduces readers to the range, significance and complexity of women's writing across multiple genres in Britain between 1660 and 1789. Divided into two parts, the Companion first discusses women's participation in print culture, featuring essays on topics such as women and popular culture, women as professional writers, women as readers and writers, and place and publication. Additionally, part one explores the ways women writers crossed generic boundaries. The second part contains chapters on many of the key genres in which women wrote including poetry, drama, fiction (early and later), history, the ballad, periodicals, and travel writing. The Companion also provides an introduction surveying the state of the field, an integrated chronology, and a guide to further reading.

Essays by leading scholars provide a comprehensive overview of women writers and their work in Restoration and eighteenth-century Britain.

About the Author
Catherine Ingrassia is Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the author of Authorship, Commerce, and Gender in Eighteenth-Century England: A Culture of Paper Credit (Cambridge, 1998); editor of a critical edition of Eliza Haywood's Anti-Pamela and Henry Fielding's Shamela (2004); and co-editor of A Companion to the Eighteenth-Century Novel and Culture (2005) and the anthology British Women Poets of the Long Eighteenth Century (2009).

Reviews
'Ingrassia's introduction provides an extremely valuable overview ... and the guide to further reading at the end of the volume is also particularly strong.' Jenny Davidson, Studies in English Literature
'The full significance of literary scholars' shift away from women as novelists and towards women as playwrights, theatre managers, ballad collectors, booksellers, travel writers, and historians remains to be fully articulated, but Ingrassia's collection offers the means to begin conceptualizing this shift and its impact on the way scholars write and teach the history of literature and print.' JoEllen Delucia, Eighteenth-Century Fiction
'Overall, The Cambridge Companion to Women's Writing in Britain, 1660-1789 is a valuable pedagogical and reference resource for both students and scholars of British women writers and of long-eighteenth-century literature and culture.' Suzanne L. Barnett, Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era



Book Information
ISBN 9781107600980
Author Catherine Ingrassia
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 410g
Dimensions(mm) 227mm * 151mm * 15mm