This groundbreaking study explores the later lives and late-life writings of more than two dozen British women authors active during the long eighteenth century. Drawing on biographical materials, literary texts, and reception histories, Devoney Looser finds that far from fading into moribund old age, female literary greats such as Anna Letitia Barbauld, Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Catharine Macaulay, Hester Lynch Piozzi, and Jane Porter toiled for decades after they achieved acclaim-despite seemingly concerted attempts by literary gatekeepers to marginalize their later contributions. Though these remarkable women wrote and published well into old age, Looser sees in their late careers the necessity of choosing among several different paths. These included receding into the background as authors of "classics," adapting to grandmotherly standards of behavior, attempting to reshape masculinized conceptions of aged wisdom, or trying to create entirely new categories for older women writers. In assessing how these writers affected and were affected by the culture in which they lived, and in examining their varied reactions to the prospect of aging, Looser constructs careful portraits of each of her subjects and explains why many turned toward retrospection in their later works. In illuminating the powerful and often poorly recognized legacy of the British women writers who spurred a marketplace revolution in their earlier years only to find unanticipated barriers to acceptance in later life, Looser opens up new scholarly territory in the burgeoning field of feminist age studies.

Devoney Looser's new study shows us that there's nothing new about disdain for older women. As she illuminates the personal challenges faced by older women writers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Looser also brings to light a number of fascinating writings produced by her subjects in their late years... This inquiry asks us to rethink literary history in general and women's literary history in particular. -- Susan S. Lanser, Brandeis University

About the Author
Devoney Looser is a Professor of English at the University of Missouri and the author of British Women Writers and the Writing of History, 1670-1820, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Reviews
Compelling and interesting... Like a latter-day Isaac D'Israeli, Looser explores many byways of 18th- and early-19th century authorship and publication. Accordingly, specialists in those periods will find here a trove of useful, thought-provoking historical anecdote. Choice 2009 So meticulously researched and her prose so pleasantly lucid and unassuming... Looser crafts a convincing argument for the reexamination of women writers like Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Jane Porter, and Anna Letitia Barbauld, paying closer attention to their later lives and works. -- Jeanine M. Casler Papers on Language and Literature 2009 Engaging and clearly written, Looser's book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of what it meant to be an elderly female writer in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries while also identifying important considerations of fact and methodology often overlooked without the perspective of age studies. -- Kay Heath Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies 2009 The book's lively introduction offers plenty of promise. Looser conveys considerable enthusiasm about her subject and the impressive archival research she conducted for Women Writers and Old Age. Throughout the six chapters, Looser maintains a lucid and engaging style that many contemporary scholars might well emulate. -- Marilyn Roberts Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer 2009 Devoney Looser is one of the best at bringing together biographical evidence, sophisticated theory, and literary sensibility. -- Paula R. Backscheider Studies in English Literature 2009 Devoney Looser has written an extremely important book that sensitively explores ageism and the literary marketplace just when the Mothers of the Novel were writing their final chapters. -- Laurie Kaplan JASNA News 2009 Elegant and original study... Looser not only offers a fresh perspective on individual reputations but raises intriguing questions about the procession of 'generations' in literary history. -- Elizabeth Eger Times Literary Supplement 2009 One of the strengths of Women Writers and Old Age is Looser's uncompromising willingness to acknowledge how difficult it was for older women writers to triumph over the cultural forces ranged against them. -- Roxanne Eberle Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas 2010 This is a thought-provoking... contribution not only to old age and gender studies but also to the literary history of the long 18th century. -- Anne-Julia Zwierlein Zeitschrift fuer Anglistik und Amerikanistik 2010 Wide-ranging and scrupulous book explores a neglected and fascinating subject. -- Caroline Gonda Eighteenth-Century Fiction 2010 Although Looser's assumptions may not be shared by every reader, the book is so well informed and ends with such a vast bibliography that everyone stands to learn by it. -- Marialuisa Bignami Modern Language Review 2010 Women Writers in Old Age, 1750-1850, provides a valuable contribution to the nascent field of study. -- Patricia Murphy Nineteenth-Century Literature 2009 With Women Writers and Old Age in Great Britain, 1750-1850... Devoney Looser is one of the best at bringing together biographical evidence, sophisticated theory, and literary sensibility. -- Paula R. Backscheider Studies in English Literature 2009 A groundbreaking study of the late careers of women writers. Year's Work in English Studies 2010 A well-written, imaginative, carefully researched, and fascinating study. -- Lisa Vargo Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 2009



Book Information
ISBN 9780801887055
Author Devoney Looser
Format Hardback
Page Count 252
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 22mm