Title Imagining women readers, 1789-1820 : well-regulated minds / Richard De Ritter

Published Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2015

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Description 1 online resource Series JSTOR EBA Contents 1. 'Like a sheet of white paper': books, bodies and the sensuous materials of the mind -- 2. 'Wholesome labour': the work of reading -- 3. 'The enlightened energy of parental affection': post-revolutionary schemes of education -- 4. 'Leisure to be wise': female education and the possibilities of domesticity -- 5. Making the novel-readers of a country: pleasure and the practised reader Summary This book reassesses the cultural significance of women's reading in the period 1789-1820. While much attention has been paid to the moral panic provoked by novel-reading during this period, this study offers a more progressive and enabling narrative. From the turbulent years following the French Revolution to the fiction of Jane Austen, Imagining women readers charts the rise of a self-regulating reader, who possesses both moral and cultural authority. De Ritter identifies how writers working in a range of genres - including conduct books, educational texts, and fiction - viewed reading as a mode of symbolic labour, which enabled forms of female participation in national life. Often considered an inward-looking, domestic activity, this book argues that reading was frequently depicted through the language of the public, rather than the private, sphere. Over the course of its five chapters, Imagining women readers offers a unique perspective on the relationship between reading, education and the construction of femininity. In doing so, it sheds new light on the work of some of the most celebrated women writers of the period, including Hannah More, Jane West, Anna Letitia Barbauld and Maria Edgeworth. Imagining women readers will be of interest to students and scholars interested in the history and representation of reading, and in women's writing of this period more generally Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes In English Subject English literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism Women -- Books and reading -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century English literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism Women -- Books and reading -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Women and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century Women and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century Authors and readers -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century Authors and readers -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century English literature -- 18th century -- History and criticism LITERARY CRITICISM -- Women Authors. LITERARY CRITICISM -- European -- English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh. Authors and readers English literature English literature -- Women authors Women and literature Women -- Books and reading Englisch Frauenliteratur Frau Leseverhalten Great Britain Großbritannien Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781781707241 1781707243 9781526102133 1526102137

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