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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Elizabeth Tanfield Cary

Elizabeth Cary, born 1585 in London, was an English Catholic author, poet and playwright who has been credited as the first English woman to write an entire play individually known as 'The Tragedy of Mariam '. She was also a prominent figure in the English Catholic community, causing difficulties in her family later in her life. Much of what is known about Elizabeth stems from the work “The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of her Daughters” written from perspective of her daughter, Lucy Cary.

Early Life
Elizabeth Cary was born in 1585 in Oxfordshire to Elizabeth Symondes of Norfolk and Sir Lawrence Tanfield. At a young age, Elizabeth showcased great skills in education, particularly linguistics and was a confident and motivated child. It is stated that she would often stay up all night reading by bribing the servants for candlelight. Her parents were quick to encourage this passion and hired a French teacher for Elizabeth when she was 5 years old. In only one month, Elizabeth had mastered French. Her passion for language grew quickly after this and was followed by Elizabeth independently learning Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Transylvanian.

At 15 years old, Elizabeth was married to Sir Henry Cary. The arrangement was made by her father, to which Henry accepted based on Elizabeth’s title as an heiress. The two did not live with each other for some years, during which, Henry was titled Viscount and by proxy, Elizabeth, Viscountess. Elizabeth in the meantime began learning the art of playwriting and poetry and began to build a reputation as a successful playwright. At 17 years old, Elizabeth became the youngest English women to write an entire play by herself, but it wasn’t published in London until 1613, almost a decade later. Despite the lack of focus on this part of her life in more recent biographies, it was an ‘extraordinary achievement for a woman of the Renaissance’ After some years living apart, Elizabeth eventually moved in with her husband, Henry. There she was exposed to her mother-in-law, who forbade her from reading to which Elizabeth, instead turned to poetry.

Later Life
The couple remained together for over 27 years, during which Elizabeth gave birth to eleven children: Catherine (1609-1625), Lucius, later known as the 2nd Viscount Falkland (1610-1643), Lorenzo (1613-1642), Anne (1614-1671), Edward (1616-1616), Elizabeth (1617-1683), Lucy (1619-1650), Victoria (1620-1692), Mary (1621-1693), Henry (1622-unknown) and Patrick (1623-1657). Edward unfortunately died in infancy, and within months, her eldest child, Catherine died in childbirth - the possible motivator for her religious evolution. The family moved to Dublin, Ireland in 1622 after Henry's promotion to Lord Deputy of Ireland, however would occasionally move between England and Ireland on trips. While unstable at times, Elizabeth sacrificed immensely for her marriage, damaging her relationship with her parents by using some of her inheritance to assist her husband’s land troubles in 1625. However, this resulted in the jointure being passed forward onto her eldest son, Lucius instead and as such, she was disowned financially from her parents. Up until her death in 1639, Elizabeth received no support from her family and society after her conversion to Catholicism, aside from her daughters and their eventual conversion. She would continue to translate works, particularly Catholic translations, as well as continue her writing her poems and plays into her later years.

Catholicism
When Elizabeth and her family moved to Dublin for her husbands promotion, there Elizabeth was exposed to a large and dedicated Catholic community, particularly Catholic writers. This exposure, alongside the death of Elizabeth’s daughter, Catherine experiencing a specter of the Virgin Mary on her deathbed, led Elizabeth to finally convert herself to Catholicism, as well as her other children.

Although it is suspected she may have adopted Catholicism decades earlier privately, Elizabeth officially announced her conversion to Catholicism in 1626. Her devotion to the Catholic faith was apparent in that she went ahead with her conversion knowing how it would affect her marriage. Due to their differences in opinion about Elizabeth’s new religion, Henry attempted to divorce Elizabeth, to no avail. He did, however, gain custody of her children just a year later. When Henry died in 1633, Elizabeth was able to regain custody of her kids, including: Anne, Mary, Lucy and Elizabeth where they were eventually converted to Catholicism under the guide of John Fursdon. This was reported to Kind Charles 1, which saw the children removed from Elizabeth’s custody and into the home of Elizabeth’s eldest son, Lucius.

Works
Cary’s most famous play, The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry (1613), was in iambic pentameter, a rhythm popularly favoured by playwright William Shakespeare(d. 1616). Given that Cary lived at the same time as Shakespeare, it is fair to assume that he influenced her poetry. In these poems, she uses irony and writes in many forms such as sonnets and couplets. Not only was her play progressive because it was written by a woman, but it also contained core feminist ideas of divorce, female agency and revenge plotting. The Tragedy of Mariam was heavily influenced by Queen Elizabeth I and her career of challenging gender norms. An excerpt from the play reads,

"I will not to his love be reconcil'd,

With solemn vows I have forsworn his bed," (Cary, 1613, pp. III, iii,133-4)

This is a display of Mariam’s defiance and power. It is a ‘revolutionary act’ and the beginning of a new outlook on life. Most of its fame stems from the last half-century. It was a closet drama, which means it was not written for the stage, but to be read. Closet dramas are already less likely to be popular, and Elizabeth’s was controversial for her time. She knew this when she created it; the good thing about closet dramas is that you can take more risks and be more progressive. The designated audience was liberated women, of whom did not exist in large numbers. This recent buzz is the recognition of The Tragedy of Mariam as an early contribution to the feminist literature movement. However, it is also criticised for its orientalist discourse. Although difficult to apply Edward W. Said’s (d. 2003) Orientalism theory to an historic time, one can see where Elizabeth’s stereotypical character building came into play. One main character showcases this idea: Arabian Silleus, the ‘exotic and erotic lover/seducer’. The recent re-discovery of the play has led to its presence on the stage even though it is a closet drama. It was performed for the first time in 1994 and has since been produced several times, all over England.

Death and Legacy
Cary’s daughter Lucy (d. 1650) wrote a biography of her mother’s life, titled The Lady Falkland: Her Life by One of her Daughters. It has been updated by author Heather Woolfe more recently in 2001 as she collated a whole book based on Lucy's accounting. Another of Cary’s daughters, Anne (d. 1671), also became an author and became famous for publishing original translations, psalms and writings. Their mother was a significant influence of them, and it is because of her that women’s literature was so widely published after the 17th century.

Elizabeth Cary died of tuberculosis in 1639, at the age of 54. Cary is known today as a literary hero who was convinced she had followed the religion she truly had faith in, Catholicism. In her daughter’s words, she passed ‘without any agony quietly as a child, being wholly spent by her disease’ (Cary, 1861).


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Charlotte Bronte (1816–1855)

= Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) = Charlotte Bronte (21st April 1816 - 31st March 1855) was the eldest of the three Bronte sisters. She was a revolutionary novelist and poet, whose works became a pinnacle classic in English literature. Her novels were originally published under the pen name, Lord Charles Albert Florian Wellesley and Currer Bell. However, novels written under these names are now attributed to Bronte.

Bronte attended Roe Head school in 1831, providing her an education which was uncharacteristic of women during the period. Bronte used this education to teach her younger siblings (Emily and Anne) a year after starting her own education. She returned as a governess in the 1835 and continued on to be the governess of the Sigwick family by 1839. Bronte and her sisters endeavoured to start a school; however, their gender prevent the school from attracting students. Due to this, the three sisters began their writing career, under false personae, as the success of female writers was limited due to their lack of education and social ideas surrounding gender and literary authorship.

Charlotte Bronte was married in June 1854 and soon became pregnant. She passed due to complications in the pregnancy, suffering hyperemesis gravidarum, an extreme form of morning sickness that leads to severe dehydration. While her death was untimely, she was the last of the three literary successful sisters to pass away.

Biography
Charlotte Bronte was born in 1816 in Thornton, West Riding, Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell. Charlotte was the third eldest child, and she had five siblings: Maria, Elizabeth, Patrick (Branwell), Emily and Anne.

Their mother, Maria Branwell, died of cancer at age 38 when all of her children were very young, and soon afterwards Bronte's sisters Maria and Elizabeth also passed away. Maria's sister Elizabeth Branwell took care of the family temporary after her sister's death. The death of Bronte's mother had a profound impact on herself and her siblings. The consistent theme of loss is apparent in all of the Bronte sisters' novels, especially manifesting as the death of a mother and orphaning, and is thought to have been influenced by this loss.

Patrick Bronte

Patrick Bronte was born to a large family, who had very little access to economic income or education. He chose to educate himself and succeeded in becoming a school teacher, due to his academic dedication, Patrick attracted patronage from his local community (Stoneman, 2017). With this financial support he studied theology at St. Johns College in 1802, from this and unremitting effort, Bronte was accepted into Cambridge University and finished his bachelor's degree in 1806 (Stoneman, 2017).

His Literary Work

There is a strong correlation between Patrick's faith in Christianity and his literary works (Wilks 2013). During his own self-education, Patrick had received academic support from two local clergymen, Thomas Tighe and Andrew Harshaw. His faith had grown significantly through learning Christian values from these men (Stoneman 2017). He then chose to study theology to develop his knowledge of Christianity further. Ultimately, he became a priest in an England Church in 1807. During his priesthood, Patrick Bronte also became a minor poet and published his first book of verse, Cottage Poems, in 1811. Throughout the book, Patrick stated that everything he had came from God and that his resignation was a path to heavenly reward (Wilks 2013).

Charlotte Bronte and her boarding school experiences

Charlotte and Emily joined their older sisters at Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire, which she later referred to as her experiences in the "Lowood Institution" in Jane Eyre (Poetry Foundation 2021). Therefore, the siblings did not have pleasant experiences where they had suffered abuse and privations. It is noteworthy that the sisters' death was primarily contributed to the damp conditions of the school (McLaren 2011). The punishments in Cowan Bridge School was inhumane, which included deprivation of food and recreation, corporal punishment and humiliation, such as wearing a dunce cap when they misbehaved. Unfortunately, the oldest sisters Maria and Elizabeth were gravely ill and died of tuberculosis shortly after leaving the boarding school (McLaren 2011). The loss of the sisters had become a huge trauma for Charlotte, which could be seen in her novel, Jane Eyre. Given that Charlotte's mother had passed away when she was five, she had been considered Maria, the oldest sister, as her mother-figure, rather than just her sister. According to Gaskell (44), Maria was "far superior in mind at any of her fellows and companions", which demonstrated Charlotte's strong attachment as well as her dependence on Maria. These traumatic experiences had strongly affected Charlotte's mental health, especially after her elder sisters Maria and Elizabeth's death, which had intensified her urgent need to establish a career (Gaskell 44). Boarding school would shape the way Charlotte saw the world and how she would mould her future characters.

Governess

Since the Bronte family was poor, the girls had to start working to sustain the living. Charlotte became a governess and spent several years teaching at a Brussels boarding school, which was her turning point to become "rebellious" and started writing Jane Eyre. Writing Jane Eyre completely transformed Charlotte's life. Her opinions and fiery writing style became a hallmark. There have been many biography and fiction stories that draw upon Charlotte's "feminist" and "revolutionary" personality and writing.

Early Poetry/The Bronte Sisters
After the death of Maria and Elizabeth, the four youngest sisters (Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell) were removed from the boarding school, and they were educated at home for the next six years and started writing their fictional works. The four children had written poems of their imaginative land, Angria. The stories that they created were in manuscripts with elaborate and episodic sagas. They decided to use all the money that their aunt Branwell left to publish their first book. The stories that they created were in manuscripts with elaborate and episodic sagas. They decided to use all the money that their aunt Branwell left to publish their first book. However, they decided to publish the book under male pennames to pretend that they were three brothers since they knew that their writing would not become famous if the readers knew they were women. Consequently, Charlotte wrote as Currer, Emily wrote as Ellis, and Anne wrote as Acton Bell in the poem.

Even though their first book publication was not satisfied, they did not give up but put more effort into their writings (Reef 2012). In 1847, the Bronte sisters published a novel respectively. Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, and Anne wrote Agnes Grey (Reef 2012). The three young siblings had become successful at their novels, and people referred to them as the "Bronte Sisters" (Reef 2012).

The Social Background of Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre had successfully captured social values and how women were treated unequally by society during the 1800s, especially in the lower socioeconomic background. Women put lots of effort into identifying themselves and fighting for their rights (Gao 2013). While some women were agitated for greater rights, society exalted the saintly and self-sacrificing woman; there was still some social restraint to women. Most women were socialised to be "pure and innocent, gentle and sexually undemanding, submissive and obedient", and lacked many of the rights men experienced at the time. For instance, they were subjected to work in factories. Therefore, poverty was common among people who had a certain level of education, such as the governess and clergyman. As a result, Bronte had been seeking her identity throughout her novel as Jane Eyre. She had represented most women in that period where they faced the dilemma between identity and the emotional reality of oppression (Gao 2013).

Reputation/Legacy
Charlotte Bronte published Jane Eyre in 1847 under the pen name "Currer Bell". The novel mainly focused on the mental growth of the protagonist through a first-person narrative, which Charlotte called "the first private consciousness historian" (Y., 2015). The novel had discussed different aspects of the social criticism with the strong pushback by the Christian morality through the in-depth descriptions of the protagonist. For instance, Jane refused to go to the south of France with Mr Rochester and shack up with him as husbands and wives. Although Jane had a strong affection for Mr Rochester, she left Thornfield at dawn because of her strong Christian beliefs and values (Poetry Foundation 2021).

Written in the Victorian period, many critics argued that the ideologies of Jane Eyre were ahead of time in the way that Jane Eyre approached different social aspects, such as the social hierarchy, sexuality, feminism and religion. As mentioned above, women were regarded as inferior to man and did not have many rights, particularly in publication. Even though most women were allowed to receive etiquette education, they do not receive the same treatment in the publication of their works (Y. 2015). Bronte was an exemplified this difference in the perception and reception of the genders. She did not reveal her true identity but instead used a pseudonym to cover her gender when she wrote Jane Eyre. Consequently, the novel had become bestsellers, and the reviews were positive. It was popular in the Victorian period because ideologies in the book were ahead and had brought a new perspective to think of social issues (Poetry Foundation 2021).

Therefore, many critics argued that Jane Eyre approached different social aspects and was not socially appropriate based on her gender. It was not appropriate for a female writer to have advanced thoughts towards sexuality and other sensitive topics in such a passionate novel (Mentari 2018). For instance, she had challenged the social hierarchy, sexuality, feminism and religion. As self-defence, Charlotte Bronte wrote, "conventionality is not morality" of not yielding unequal treatment towards women in society. It had demonstrated that Charlotte Bronte was a strong and independent woman who did not care much for the social conventions of women even though she knew that the norms might not accept her passion and hot temper (Mentari 2018).

Even though Charlotte Bronte had received many negative comments on her novel after revealing her gender, numerous women, especially the highly educated, supported her bravery in sharing the feminist views in the novel. Charlotte Bronte wrote the novel to spread feminism and that women should be independent and support themselves rather than being oppressed by men. Throughout the novel, she wrote in first-person narration and addressed the readers as "my readers' (Gao 2013). The way she addressed the readers had created more emotional connections and shortened the distance between Bronte and the readers, thus deeply delivered the empathic message to her readers.

Though all three of the Bronte sisters died without money in abject poverty, the impact they had upon the public and literature cannot be ignored or overstated. Despite attempts to diminish the achievements of Charlotte Bronte her work endures as a cornerstone of gothic female literature.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Mary Bonaventure Browne

= Mary Bonaventure Browne =

Family
Mother Mary Bonaventure Browne was born around 1610 in Galway, Ireland and passed away some time between 1670 and 1691. She was born into a wealthy Irish family that was a part of the the Tribes of Galway. Her father, Andrew Browne Fitz Oliver, was prominent politically and a wealthy business man. It is known that her brother Francis joined the Franciscans while in 1632 Mary and her sister Catherine joined the Poor Clares. The Poor Clares were officially called The Order of Saint Clare, a contemplative order of nuns in the catholic church. Mary’s Uncle, Martin Browne, is remembered by history as his old doorway (known as The Browne Doorway, Eyre Square) is still a monument in Ireland to serve as 'a reminder of the great architecture in the days of Galway's civic opulence’.

Poor Clares
The Poor Clares were a group of Sisters who brought a strict religious way of life (as taught by Saint Clare of Assisi in Italy) to Ireland. It was Penal times and they were, many times over in the course of history, banished and exiled for their religiosity. One of the most prominent factors about the Poor Clare community is its longevity and its commitment to preserving documents carefully for over 350 years. Even through continuous exile from Ireland, the community were writing their own stories and maintaining them. The history of the Poor Clares owes much to Mary as it is her writing that captured the events from 1629 to 1670.

When Mary came to the Poor Clares and joined the community they were soon after exiled from Dublin and resided at “Bethlehem” which was a building erected for them near the town of Athlone, Central Ireland. There is a record of Mary being professed here in 1633. Mary wrote of the condition: “It was situated in such a low and shadowed bogg as the physitians wondered how such tender creatures (very delicatly bred) could live therein; for in wett and rainy wedder the water would not onely fall over them through the roofe of the house, but alsoe in severall places came upp under the ground; besides that, all their houses were soe low that their cells and all other roomes (except onely the quire) were uppon the ground.”

Legacy
The Poor Clares was a privileged space for women as far as literature goes. Women could author, translate and read. In fact St. Clare herself was the first women to write a religious text prescribing procedural monistic life. Mother Mary Bonaventure Browne composed a chronicle of the history of the Irish Poor Clares during her time in Madrid (the Poor Clares were exiled to Madrid from Galway when all religious persons were banished from Ireland by Cromwell in 1653). This chronicle was later sent back to Galway but unfortunately the chronicle was destroyed during the Williamite Wars of 1691. However, a copy of the chronicle exists in an English manuscript (translator unknown) and is also used as a reception text for another chronicle, also authored by a female, The History of the Angelicall Virgin Glorious S. Clare (Aire, 1635). Additionally, other records quote her literary reception including Bibliotheca universa franciscana (Madrid, 1732). Browne's legacy is as a woman whose authorship impacted the broader religious community. Her chronicle was not only circulated within her intended cloistered audience but it serves as an important counter-reformation article for transnational religiosity.

Fr. Joanne à s. Antonio Salmantino, whom was the author of the 1635 History of the Angelicall Virgin Glorious S. Clare had commented on Mary’s contribution: “Mary Bonaventure, a most famous Irishwoman from the Poor Clares of the monastery of the city of Galway of that realm, having been moved because of risings and wars to the monastery of Madrid commonly called El Cavallero de Gracia in Spain, reflecting an exemplary life, wrote a huge work in large quarto, in the Irish language, presently kept by the commissary of the Irish at Madrid and strengthened by licences and censures. I have seen it.”

Missing Works

 * “Eleven separate tracts, ranging from history to biography, hagiography, and theology: “An historical discourse on heresiarchs and their persecutions”
 * “The martyrdoms of certain Poor Clares and Tertiaries during the tyrannous cruelty of Ireland”
 * “A life of Henry the Eighth”
 * “A life of Anne Boleyn”
 * “A life of Queen Catherine”
 * “The Acts of the Virgin Saint Colette”
 * “A life of the Blessed Margaret del Pilar, Poor Clare”
 * “A life of D. the holy Queen of Sicily”
 * “An historical tract about many persons of most proven life in the world”
 * “Concerning the devotion of the Rosary and its origin”
 * “Concerning other Rosaries given by divine generosity to God’s own devoted ones”

It is most likely that the manuscript translation of her chronicle into English, still in Galway, is the second of these, titled in the manuscript: “How divers Religious women of this holy order dyed in persecutions, Banishments and Calamityes for their holy faith and profession, and especially of such of the Irish nation as dyed soe.”

This suggests that the surviving MS of Mary’s writing is merely a piece of a much larger body of work.

Further reading:
You can connect with Mary on Facebook and notice that her circle of friends includes Margaret M Watson and Marie-Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armont.

Concannon, Helena 1929. The Poor Clares in Ireland, M.H. Gill, London.

Gaskell, Elizabeth (1856). The Poor Clare, Melville House, London.

O'Brien, Celsus O.F.M. (1992), A Short History of The Poor Clares, Galway, https://poorclares.ie/upload/Galway%20Poor%20Clare%20History%206202.pdf


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User talk:Elemoz

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User talk:SchreiberBike

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User talk:Jabertz

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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Mary Rowlandson (c. 1637–1711)

= Mary Rowlandson (c. 1637-1711) = Mary Rowlandson - née White, later Mary Talcott – was a 17th Century colonial American woman, and is considered a primitive contributor to the literary genre of captivity narratives through her work The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. Rowlandson’s singular transformative work details the 11-week captivity of Rowlandson and her 4 children by Native Americans in 1676, during King Phillip’s War, and was published six years after being ransomed. Rowlandson garnered minor fame after her work acquired a large following in both England and in the New England colonies, however is posthumously considered a pivotal figure in women’s writing pre 1900’s, with her work being held in consideration as the original American “bestseller”.

Early Life
Mary White was born in Somerset, England c. 1637. At 2 years of age, Mary’s family joined the Puritan migration to America, settling in Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After a few years, Mary and her family moved once more to Lancaster, the new frontier settlement, consisting of 50 families and 6 garrisons. It was in Lancaster that she married ordained Puritan minister, Reverend Joseph Rowlandson (1631-1678), in 1656. It was there the couple enjoyed sizeable landholdings, and bore 4 children (Mary, Joseph, Mary, Sarah) between 1658 and 1669.

Captivity
Rowlandson’s life was abruptly interrupted at dawn on the 10th of February, 1676, when Lancaster came under attack by Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nashaway/Nipmuc Native Americans, led by Monoco. The attack and burning of Lancaster saw 17 people killed and 24 taken captive – including Rowlandson and her 4 young children. After a week of captivity, Rowlandson lost her 6-year old daughter Sarah, after she succumbed to wounds sustained in the attack and captivity.

During the 11 weeks of captivity, Rowlandson and her 3 remaining children were treated poorly as prisoners, being forced to accompany their captors through the wilderness as far to the west as the Connecticut River and north into modern day New Hampshire, carrying out more raids and eluding the English militia.

The details of their times as captives are recounted in Rowlandson’s captivity narrative, where she describes how she acclimated to her new life and her captors’ traditional diet. Rowlandson further recounts on how her skills in sewing and knitting garnered her lesser severity in treatment than other captives, and saw Rowlandson meeting “King Phillip” – the Wampanoag Chief, Metacom. However, it was the Bible and her religious zeal that was her true saviour throughout her ordeal.

Rowlandson’s captivity ended on May 2, 1676 when she was ransomed for £20. Funds for Rowlandson’s ransom was raised by the local women of Boston, Massachusetts, in the form of a public subscription, and were paid by John Hoar of Concord at Redemption Rock in Princeton, Massachusetts. Rowlandson’s two surviving children were returned to their family sometime later.

Life After Captivity
Due to Lancaster’s destruction in the attack, Mary and her family moved to Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1677, where Joseph Rowlandson became the town’s Pastor. Joseph Rowlandson died in November 1678, upon which Mary was granted a pension of £30 a year by Church officials.

After her husbands death, Mary Rowlandson moved the family to Boston, Massachusetts, where she met and married Captain Samuel Talcott in 1679, taking his surname. It is here Mary is thought to have written her captivity narrative, reflecting upon her experiences, however the original manuscript does not remain. Rowlandson’s narrative was published in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in London, England, in 1682, were it became wildly popular amongst Puritan society.

Death
It was originally believed Mary died before her work was published, but is now known that she died on January 5, 1711, at the age of approximately 73, outliving Talcott by almost 20 years.

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God
Rowlandson’s account was printed 4 times in 1682, with the second and third being published in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the fourth in London. It was the second edition published posthumously in 1720, that displayed the title The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.

The Importance of Rowlandson's Work
Rowlandson’s vividly written narrative was amongst the most prevalent 17th Century style works and shaped the conventions of the captivity narrative genre and colonial literature, genre’s that influenced the development of novel and autobiographical writings in America. Rowlandson’s work has over 30 editions throughout the years and has been included in many anthologies of American literature.

Rowlandson’s work is considered pivotal as it was the first publication written by a living woman, and the second work by any woman in North America.

The work is also invaluable as the narrative details the intercultural contact at the height of Puritan influence in New England, along with providing a minute snapshot of early modernity, laying witness to religious, social, and gender norms.

Reputation
Rowlandson’s publication and fame that established her a formative figure of 17th century and modern-day literature, are considerable due to the nature of her writing and historical gender norms. The preface of Rowlandson’s narrative is signed Per Amicum, as justification for Rowlandson’s “writerly transgressions” of Puritan gender norms, asserting it as essential, labelling it a testimony to “the sovereignty and goodness of God” and the “faithfulness of His promises.” New England society was not opposed to banishing women for opposing Puritan views, or for challenging the patriarchal orthodoxy.

Referencing

 * Annenberg Learner (2000), American Passages: A Literary Survey, Utopian Promise, Mary Rowlandson (c.1636-1711), Annenberg Foundation, https://www.learner.org/series/american-passages-a-literary-survey/utopian-promise/mary-rowlandson-c-1636-1711/
 * Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Mary Rowlandson". Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Jun. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Rowlandson.
 * Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle; Levernier, James Arthur (1993), The Indian Captivity Narrative, 1550-1900, New York: Twayne Publishers, ISBN 0-8057-7533-1.
 * Neubauer, Paul (January 2001), "Indian Captivity in American Children's Literature: A Pre-Civil War Set of Stereotypes", The Lion and the Unicorn, 25 (1): 70–80, doi:10.1353/uni.2001.0009, S2CID 145274016.
 * Rowlandson, Mary (1997), Salisbury, Neal (ed.), The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's, ISBN 0-312-11151-7.
 * Waldrup, Carole Chandler (1999), Colonial Women: 23 Europeans Who Helped Build a Nation, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, ISBN 0-7864-0664-X.
 * Wilson, Robert (2021), Open Anthology on American Literature: Mary Rowlandson (c.1637-1711), Press Rebus Community, https://press.rebus.community/openamlit/chapter/mary-rowlandson/


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Elizabeth Evelinge (1597–1668)

= Elizabeth Evelinge (1597 - 1668) = Elizabeth Evelinge (or Evelyn) was born in England in 1597 to Robert Evelinge and Sussanah Young. She died in 1668 as a woman of revolutionary literary and spiritual activity with published works. This was a rare feat for a woman of her time, as literature was primarily viewed as a masculine occupation.

Biography
Evelinge is acknowledged as having been a nun at the Poor Clare convent in Gravelines, the first Franciscan convent for Englishwomen established in 1608/09 which was well-known for its unusual emphasis on scholarship and learning (pp. 85).

Scholar Jane Stevenson equates the convent's emphasis on learning to the family heritage of the nuns - many of the nuns came from families of recusant gentry, where learning, particularly the learning of Latin, would have been common. However, unlike other convents, not all nuns of the Poor Clare at Gravelines were encouraged to study- only those with evidenced talent (pp. 85).

Evelinge joined the convent in 1620 under the name 'Catherine of Saint Magdalen,' and literary work was a significant facet of her religious devotion.

In 1629, Evelinge left the convent at Gravelines to become a founding member of a dissident Poor Clare convent at Aire. It is indicated through her obituary that she was influential within the convent at Aire for her scholarship and leadership, and that she served as the convent's representative for the outside world.

Unfortunately, there is little published information regarding her home or family life, or any other details pertaining to her life until her dates of publication and exile. Scholar Jaimie Goodrich posits Evelinge's omission in the early modern women writer's canon as owing to her mostly anonymous publishings (she was a "quasi-anonymous voice rooted in the cloister"), which reflected Evelinge's immense humility as well as the social stigmas associated with being a woman writer at the time (pp. 100).

Evelinge is remembered as an author, translator, English abbess of Aire , historian, and Nun.

Works
Evelinge produced 64 publications, including 19 works. Her most notable works are Declarations and Ordinances (1622) published in Belgium; The Life of Blessed Sainte Euphrosina (1635); and The History of the Angelicall Virgin Glorious S. Clare (1635), a biography about St Clare which was published in France. The story of St Claire tells of the origins of the Poor Clare convent, following the life of Clara Offreduccio de Favarone, a follower of St Francis of Assisi who was advised to withdraw from his monastery and consequently founded St Francis' Second Order.

Elizabeth wrote primarily in the period between 1620 and 1645. Her works resurfaced in 1995, and have been republished since. Elizabeth's texts have been categorised within various genres including: legends; controversial literature; biographies; and rules. Although some texts were published in Belgium and France, Elizabeth's works are written in English.

Further publications incorporating her work include:

Due to her desires to comply with the rules of her life as a nun and to have her voice obscured within her writing, her scholarly work was neglected in it's publication. It was challenging for scholars to establish Evelinge as the author of her works and to establish what was hers and what may have been writings of others at the convent. (CITE)
 * "The history of the angelicall virgin glorious S. Clare: dedicated to the Queen's most excellent majesty", extracted out of the R.F. Luke Wadding his annals of the free minors chiefly, by Francis Hendricq and now donne into English, by Sister Magdalen Augustine, of the holy order of the poore clarcs in Aire, by Luke Wadding (16 editions published in English);
 * The life of the glorious virgin S. Clare: Togeather with the conuersion, and life of S.Agnes her sister. And of another S. Agnes, daughter to the King of Bohemia. Also the rule of S. Clare. And the life of S. Catharine of Bologna. Translated into English by Marcos. (16 editions published);
 * The rule of the Holy Virgin S. Clare: Togeather with the admirable life, of S. Catharine of Bologna of the same order, by Clare (4 editions published);
 * Elizabeth Evelinge, II, by Clare (5 editions published);
 * The early modern Englishwoman: a facsimile library of essential works by Elizabeth Evelinge (1 edition published).

Legacy
Evelinge is a prime example of the struggle between the life of devotion and the life of literature that faced female writers in the early modern era. The resurgence in popularity of her texts in contemporary early modern scholarship highlights the impact women's writing can have despite its years of neglect in the historical canon.

The Poor Clares was a space of privilege for women as far as literature goes. Women were encouraged to author, translate and read, in line with St. Clare herself being the first women to write a religious text prescribing procedural monistic life. She fostered the written scholarship of many other women including Mother Mary Bonaventure Browne.

Scholar Laurie Ellinghausen's review of The Early Modern Englishwoman Part 3 & 5 featuring two of Evelinge's texts, Declarations and Ordinances (1622) and The History of the Angelicall Virgin Glorious S. Clare (1635) highlights the texts as reflective of the literature deemed appropriate for women writers of the period, as they comprise the devotional literature and translation genres which were the usual genres for early modern women writers to engage with. However, Ellinghausen criticises the lack of context provided by the editors around the significance of Evelinge's work, having deemed her texts "essential" for study without clarifying why (pp. 829). However, Elinghausen goes on to identify one interesting aspect of Evelinge's publishing- that "not all print endeavours were commercially motivated or aimed at the widest possible audience." Rather, Evelinge's texts exemplify the existence of early modern women engaging in specialist literary pursuits, as they demonstrate Evelinge's printing of devotional literature for a highly specific audience - the nuns of the Poor Clare's convent.

Consequently, Ellinghausen's identification of the specialised nature of Evelinge's texts highlight one of the legacies of her work - that of an 'instructional manual' for future nuns of the Poor Clare convent.

Scholar Jaimie Goodrich points to how Eveligne's religious writings have left behind a unique access point into understanding the lived experiences of female nuns during the early modern period in their portrayal and reflection of the convent context. Goodrich asserts Evelinge's body of work demonstrates the monastery as a "utopian space where spiritual fulfilment results from shedding one’s worldly identity." (pp. 28).

The breadth of existing scholarship on Evelinge's literary work and religious context is indicative of her far-reaching impact as an early modern woman writer. Despite there being little known about her own life, it is clear that she was a woman of significant impact, and her story warrants further research.


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Germaine Greer

= Germaine Greer (1939-) =

Biography:
Germaine Greer, (b. 29 January 1939), in Melbourne, Australia, is an Australian author and libertarian who pioneered the feminist movement and heavily influenced the sexual freedom of women. Greer was born into a lower-middle-class household in Melbourne, where she went on to be educated by Catholic nuns; Greer's family was significantly religious, adherents of the Catholic denomination of Christianity, however, a year after leaving school, Greer abandoned her beliefs stating that the existence of a God was "unconvincing." “She spent time as a student in the milieux of the “Drift” association of artists in Melbourne and the “Push” in Sydney. Greer was educated across an array of universities as she moved from Australia to England. She attended the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney before moving onto a doctorate in 1967 in literature at the University of Cambridge. Greer was one for the arts, she acted on television, aided in the process of journals, and lectured at the University of Warwick. Moreover, she continued to the lecture until her influential book, ‘The Female Eunuch’ was published in 1970, where she stipulates the suppressive nature of a traditional nuclear family on the sexuality of women. Always confident when presented with controversy, in April 1917 Greer was a part of a debate against author Norman Mailer on the topic of women’s freedom, or lack thereof, at New York City’s Town Hall. The debate would then be readapted in the 1979 documentary ‘Town Bloody Hall.’ Greer continued to move around and continue her passion for lecturing where she moved to Italy before shortly returning it England. Throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s Greer continued to publish revolutionary work that would continue to push an aid in the feminist movements across the globe, where she became a household name. Greer’s archives were sold to the University of Melbourne in 2013, covering the period of 1959-2010. (University of Melbourne). The University raised three million dollars to fund the purchase of the netiere collection, where Greer stated that her cheque from the sale would be donated to her charity, Friends of Gondwana Rainforest (University of Melbourne).

Work:
Germaine Greer began writing for Oz Magazine, which was reopened in London after the Australian Oz had been shut down in 1963. Greer was familiar with the editor of the magazine, and was offered a writing job when reunited with Richard Neville, leading to her article In Bed with the English, published in 1967. Greer co-founded Suck: The First European Sex Paper in 1969, along with Jim Haynes, William Levy, Bill Daley, Heathcote Williams and Jean Shrimpton, with the purpose of creating “a new pornography which would demystify male and female bodies”. Greer wrote a column entitled Sucky Fucky by Earth Rose, which advised women on how to care for their genitals. Greer published the name of her friend, dedicating the title of the Female Eunuch to, stating in the magazine: “Anyone who wants group sex in New York and likes fat girls, contact Lillian Roxon” (Wallace 141). Greer left the company when a nude photograph of herself was published in the magazine, stating that the editors were being “counter-revolutionary” (G). She stated at a later date that by joining the team at Suck, she aimed to attempt to steer the magazine away from exploitive and destructive pornography, in the hopes of bringing female liberation into the paper (Kleinhenz 123).

In 1970, after lecturing for many years, Germaine Greer published her first and most influential novel. ‘The Female Eunuch’ divulges Greer’s interpretation of the 1960s housewife and the negative nature surrounding it. Greer stated that her thesis ‘is that the ‘traditional’ suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexually and that this devitalizes them, rendering them eunuchs. ” Greer’s influential book offered up a new perspective on the typical housewife. ‘The Female Eunuch’ argued that a ‘tradition nuclear family’ is sexually repressive for women. As Betty Friedan analyzed in her ‘The Feminine Mystique’ Greer had intentionally spoken to the array of unsatisfied and alienated housewives, of the 1960s suburbia, and preached that there was more to a woman than her family. The Female Eunuch, published in 1970, broke the barriers that society had built and transformed the “ordinary women in a way that was rare for an explicitly feminist text.” Greer has also stepped into historical feminist lense, observing the concept of the male gaze's connection between women and objective wealth through the concept of dowry in Shakespeare and the Marriage Contract (2008) Greer’s other published work also includes The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work (1979), Sex and Destiny: The Politics of Human Fertility (1984), The Change: Women, Ageing and the Menopause (1991), and Slip-shod Sibyls: Recognition, Rejection, and the Woman Poet (1995).

Reputation/Legacy:
Always surrounding herself with controversy, Germaine has a long and varied history of provocation across the world.

She was arrested in 1972 for using profanity during a now infamous speech in New Zealand. She claims she was "acquitted on 'bullshit', but convicted on 'fuck'."

In 1984 a letter was sent to the Sunday Times where eight ‘activists’ were perceived to illuminate the weaknesses between Greer’s connection to the feminist movement and the way in which she provides her interpretation of feminism. Quotes from the letter, “Her thoughts are her own and they are based not on history, not even on the present, but on a sentimental misalignment of information plucked from a dozen sources, countries, cultures, and centuries.” From the Twentieth Anniversary of her novel, ‘The Female Eunuch’, Greer stated, in an interview in London, that she will always continue the fight for women to be totally free. To fight for those women who do not have the strength to use their own voices and for those who are unable to speak for themselves. The quote reads, “The freedom I pleaded for twenty years ago was freedom to be a person, with dignity, integrity, nobility, passion, pride that constitutes personhood. Freedom to run, shout, talk loudly and sit with your knees apart. Freedom to know and love the earth and all that swims, lies, and crawls upon it… most of the women in the world are still afraid, still hungry, still mute and loaded by religion with all kinds of fetters, masked, muzzled, mutilated and beaten.”

She has been an ongoing thorn in the side of Australian history. In 2003 she wrote a Quarterly Essay that proclaimed there was no way Australia would become a fully respected country without the incorporation and uplifting of First Nations voices. Although, more people were horrified at her description of Australia as a "cultural wasteland".

Greer has always despised living biographies.

Greer has received several honorary doctorates in the past decades, including a Doctor of Letters from York University in 1999 (York University Archives), a Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne in 2003 (The Age), and a Doctor of Letters from the University of Sydney in 2005 (University of Sydney). In 1971, Greer was voted as the Woman of the Year in the UK, and her photographs were sold to The National Portrait Gallery in London, while also being selected as an Australian National Living Treasure in 1997. In 2001, Greer was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, and was one of the four feminists represented on Australian postage stamps, including others such as Eva Cox, Anne Summers and Elizabeth Evatt. In 2016, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour had a segment regarding which women had the most impact on other female lives over the last seventy years, titled the Power List, and placed Greer fourth (BBC News).

Greer remains a powerful figure of the feminist movement, radical and dismantling of the societal systems of female oppression since her career began. Greer's work, legacy and influence continues to be seen in feminist voices today, lifted by Greer's affronting questioning of systematic attitudes towards women.

Further Readings:
Reading Germaine: three generations respond to On Rape The article, by the Guardian, looks at the ‘new’ novel by Greer and continues the ever-important conversation about rape. The article was published in 2018 and in 2021, where the publicity surrounding rape and the fear installed after the murder and rape of Sarah Everard lingers. While many criticize Greer’s approach to the novel, as one stated, “she is also a “bolter”, married for only three weeks, who has said she would have liked a husband “intermittently”. Yet On Rape is strongly shaped by what she believes is a pattern in long-term relationships in which the man demands and the woman passively gives in” begging the question of whether her opinion is valid. Nevertheless, the article is most important as it continues the conversation between generations of women and how their perceptions can be utilized.

References

BBC News. “Margaret Thatcher Tops Woman's Hour Power List.” 2016.

Cambridge Footlights. Footlights at 120: A History of Footlights. Retrieved 2020 ed., Archived from original in 2006. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Clive, James. “May Week was in June.” Pan Books, 1991. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Ditum, Sarah. “Germaine Greer Has Always Refused to be 'Nice' - If Only There Were More of Her.” New Statesman, 2018. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Greer, Germaine. “Shakespeare and the Marriage Contract.” Shakespeare and the Law, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472560322.ch-004.

Greer, Germaine. “Country Notebook: Drunken Ex-Husband.” The Daily Telegraph, 2004.

Greer, Germaine. The Development of Byron's Satirical Mode. University of Sydney, 1963.

Greer, Germaine, creator. Enough Rope with Andrew Denton. ABC Television Australia, 15 September 2003.

Greer, Germaine. “The Slag-Heap Erupts.” Oz, vol. The Madwoman's Underclothes: Essays and Occasional Writings 1968-1985, 1970.

Greer, Germaine. The Whole Woman. London, Doubleday, 1999. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Kleinhenz, Elizabeth. “Germaine: The Life of Germaine Greer.” 2018. Accessed 28 May 2021.

Lake, Marilyn. “Revolution for the Hell of It: The Transatlantic Genesis and Serial Provocations of the Female Eunuch.” Australian Feminist Studies, 2016.

Reilly, Susan P. “Female Eunuch.” Encyclopaedia of Feminist Literary Theory [New York], Routledge ed., 2010.

The Age. Roll Out the Honours. 2005.

Toynbee, Polly. “Behind the Lines:Ironing in the Soul.” Women of the Revolution: Forty Years of Feminism, vol. Guardian Books, 1988.

University of Melbourne. “An Introduction to the Germaine Greer Collection at the University of Melbourne Archives.”

University of Sydney. Germaine Greer Speaks to University of Sydney Graduates. Francis & Henningham 2017, 2005.

Wallace, Christine. Germaine Greer: Untamed Shrew. Faber and Faber, 1999. Accessed 28 May 2021.

York University Archives. 1999.


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Winifred Thimelby (1619–1690)

= Winifred Thimelby (1619-1690) = Mary “Winifred” Thimelby (1619 – 1690) was a Roman Catholic prioress and notable manuscript letter writer of the Aston-Thimelby family literary circle.

Biography
Mary Thimelby was born to Richard and Mary (nee Brooksby) Thimelby in Irnham, Lincolnshire, England. The Thimelby’s were a well-known Catholic family. In 1635, at age 16, Mary took on the name Winifred/Winefrid when she was admitted as a nun in St. Monica’s Convent in Louvain. St. Monica’s was an English convent of St. Augustine’s Order which had moved to Belgium due to the rising Protestant repression of Catholicism in Britain. In 1668, she became the third Prioress of St. Monica’s. Winifred died in Louvain in 1690, at age 71, having served in the convent for 55 years.

Little is known about Winifred’s education, but her letters show she was highly literate and sophisticated.

Winifred was a part of the Aston-Thimelby family literary circle. The family exchanged poetry and letters which are preserved in the Tixall Letters and Tixall Poems, compiled by Arthur Clifford in 1815. Notable poets and writers within this circle include Katherine Thimelby, Winifred’s sister, Gertrude Aston Thimelby, Winifred’s sister-in-law, and Constance Aston-Fowler, Gertrude’s sister.

Works
Winifred is noted for her prolific letter writing. Arthur Clifford, the compiler of the Tixall Letters, claimed to have access to between 60-70 letters sent from Winifred to other members of the family circle. Of these, only 39 were published in the Tixall Letters. These include letters to her sister Katherine, over 25 letters to her brother-in-law, Herbert Aston, after the death of Katherine, and numerous letters to her various nieces and nephews.

Winifred is also the author of a devotional entitled “Meditations of the principal obligations of a Christian, taken out of the scriptures, councils, and fathers”. Clifford describes the devotional in the Tixall Letters but does not reproduce it. The devotional contains 24 meditations, each including a reflection and prayer. This was originally intended solely for her niece, Gertrude Aston. However, in an introduction entitled “Advice to the Reader”, Winifred notes that she believed the devotion “might prove profitable to many”.

The devotional was preserved in manuscript form in the Library of Tixall Hall in Staffordshire, England, until the demolition of the hall in 1927. The location of the manuscript is now unknown.

Winifred’s letters depict an ongoing struggle to reconcile her monastic commitments alongside her deep desire to maintain strong connections with her family. Further, the letters contain passionate language, which was, at the time, seen as unfit for a nun. This is chiefly evident in letter LXXVII to Herbert Aston in which she states that her duty as a nun requires that she denounce the world and “love nothing but God”. Yet, she admits that she struggles to do so because she cares deeply for her family and her worries often detract from her focus upon faith.

Similarly, in the following excerpt from letter LVI, also to Aston, Winifred admits that she is not the perfect nun, but rather she desires ongoing connection with, and news from, her family:"Doe not suppose me a well-mortifyed nun dead to the world; for alas tis not so, I am alive, and as nearly concern’d for thos I love, as if I had never left them, and must shar in all their fortunes whither good or bad."Scholars such as Victoria Van Hyning suggest that these letters demonstrate a strong attachment to the physical world. However, Claire Walker argues that this should not be read as discontentment with, or rebellion against, her monastic life. Rather, Winifred’s letters simultaneously illustrate a deep satisfaction with her choice. Indeed, she often attempted to recruit her nieces and other family members to the convent. Further, Winifred’s letters, as well as the devotional, exhibit her desire to continually develop and grow her family members in their own faiths.

Reputation / Legacy
Many of the responses to Winifred’s letters have been lost, and as such, it is not known how the letters were received, nor what impact Winifred had upon the family. Nevertheless, she was successful in recruiting her sister-in-law, Gertrude Aston-Thimelby, and her niece Katherine Aston to St. Monica’s. Her niece Gertrude Aston, for whom the devotional was penned, also joined Winifred at St. Monica’s for some time. Although Gertrude did not become a nun, it is clear Winifred impacted upon her life to some extent.

Arthur Clifford, in his introduction to the Tixall Letters, claimed that Winifred’s letters are significant for both “sentiment and style”. This is echoed in modern scholarship, which suggests that Winifred’s tone and style was highly sophisticated and familial, unlike the majority of writings from religious women.

Victoria Van Hyning suggests that Winifred has received a reputation in modern scholarship as “a nun who breached clausura” and other monastic restrictions. However, she argues that this view is highly restrictive and rather, Winifred’s legacy should be reconsidered in light of her desire to achieve “eternal union with friends and family, and the maintenance of their collective faith.”

More recent scholarship attests to the broader significance of Winifred’s letters. As an exiled convent, the nuns of St. Monica were not subject to the King or any other male authority. Indeed, Confessor Richard White wrote to Winifred, attempting to regulate St. Monica’s connection to the outside world by restricting the number of letters to be sent. However, it is commonly accepted that neither Winifred, nor her fellow nuns adhered to this limit. Thus, the presence of the letters themselves attest to a unique level of female agency, otherwise unheard of within English convents at the time.

Similarly, Pfannebecker argues that Winifred’s letters are significant as they support the notion of spiritual patronage, by which convents would offer spiritual gifts in return for financial aid. The exiled convents relied heavily upon the dowries from nun’s families. However, this was not often enough, and prioresses would be required to use their secular contacts to maintain financial stability. This context provides a new perspective to Winifred’s continued appeals to family members, encouraging them to join the convent. It may be that her purposes in doing so were two-fold; firstly, she believed the monastic life would be beneficial to their faith, and secondly, their joining the convent would provide financial aid, thereby ensuring its continued survival. Further, Pfannebecker suggests this notion of spiritual patronage may be supported by letter XLII to Herbert Aston in which she purports to repay his debt by intervening for him on judgement day.

Further Reading:
Clifford, Arthur, editor. Tixall Letters; Or, The Correspondence Of The Aston Family And Their Friends, During The Seventeenth Century. Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown (Edinburgh), 1815.

Clifford, Arthur, editor. Tixall Poetry. Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, And Brown (London), 1813.

Pfannebecker, Mareile. “‘Love’s Interest’: Agency and Identity in a Seventeenth-Century Nun’s Letters,” Literature Compass, vol. 3, no. 6, 2006, pp. 149-156. Doi: 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2006.00309.


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Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Mihoko Suzuki

= Mihoko Suzuki (1963- ) =

Mihoko Suzuki is an esteemed writer, editor and academic currently working out of the University of Miami. She is an interdisciplinary academic, with a focus on a literary and historical understanding of gender and politics within early modern England and Europe.

Biography
Professor Mihoko Suzuki (16 December 1953-)  is a scholar based at the University of Miami in America. Her scholarship has a focus on early modern and Renaissance literature and culture within an English and European geographical context. Mihoko Suzuki’s scholarship explores this period through an interdisciplinary approach with a focus on gender and authorship.

Suzuki earned her Bachelors degree in the [https://as.cornell.edu/education/college-scholar-program#:~:text=The%20College%20Scholar%20Program%20represents,liberal%20arts%20experience%20at%20Cornell.&text=College%20Scholars%20explore%20subjects%20with,often%20graduate%2Dlevel%2C%20techniques. College Scholar Program] at Cornell University with the interdisciplinary majors of History and Literature. She then completed her Ph.D in Comparative Literature at Yale University in 1982. During her time at the University of Miami, Mihoko Suzuki has served as the Director of the Program in Women's Studies as well as the Director for Graduate Studies in the Department of English. She was appointed the inaugural Director of the Center for the Humanities in 2009, a role which she held for nine years before stepping down to serve on the Advisory Board in 2018.

Throughout her academic career, Mihoko Suzuki has written two academic books, edited several more, written prolifically across journals as well as being an active member of multiple professional organisations. In 2008, Suzuki was appointed President of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender, an organisation that is "committed to interdisciplinary, intersectional approaches that are historically sensitive and theoretically exploratory," where she served in this role for one year. In 2012 and 2013, Suzuki served on the council for Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, an interdisciplinary scholarly interested in the early modern era. She currently stands as President of the International Margaret Cavendish Society, an organisation of International scholars aiming to increase awareness of the seventeenth century writer Margaret Cavendish. These roles center Mihoko Suzuki within the scholarly community of early modern literary history, and while information is not readily available on her personal life, her academic footprint is significant.

Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference, and the Epic (1989)
Published by Cornell University Press in 1989, Suzuki’s first book ‘Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference, and the Epic’ explores the classical epic through a feminist perspective. With a focus on the character of Helen of Troy, Suzuki explores how Helen is a figurehead of both literary and political difference within the epic genre, but suggests the othering of this character can reveal insight into qualities of sameness with both the literary poets wielding her, and the political world she is challenged within. She argues that the poet exists outside the action of the epic narrative as observer, while Helen's womanhood positions her outside the patriarchal constraints of the politics of her world. Through examining Helen, and her metamorphosis throughout the subsequent works of Virgil, Spenser and Shakespeare, Suzuki creates a feminist lens through which to explore the epic.

Subordinate Subjects: Gender, the Political Nation, and Literary Form in England, 1588-1688 (2003)
Published by in 2003, ‘Subordinate Subjects: Gender, the Political Nation, and Literary Form in England, 1588-1688’ explores the political role of ‘subordinate subjects’ throughout the sixteen and seventeenth centuries. These so-called subordinates were predominantly apprentices and women of non-aristocratic standing. Suzuki’s work explores the literary contributions of these political minorities, as they challenge their subordinate position to claim a place within the political arena. Suzuki adopts an interdisciplinary approach to this study, utilising gender, social, cultural and historical studies as well as marxist, feminist and psychoanalytical theories to create an understanding of the subordinate subjects experiences.

Debating Gender in Early Modern England, 1500–1700 (2002) (ed)
Along with Christina Malcolmson, Suzuki co-edited this collection of essays debating the issue of gender during England's early modern history. The collection offers an analysis of the querelle des femmes through exploring the effect of manuscript distribution on women's writing and the subsequent development of gender discourse at the time. Series editor Ivo Kamos praised 'Debating Gender in Early Modern England, 1500-1700' for abstaining "from the “easy” generalizations about the historical conditions and circumstances of women’s lives that sometimes prevent us from appreciating the uniqueness of individual lives."

The Rule of Women in Early Modern Europe (2009) (ed)
Mihoko Suzuki and Anne J. Cruz co-edited this "transcultural and transnational perspective" of early female sovereignty and women in power, expanding the focus of this category beyond the female rulers of England. The collection focuses on both how female rulers in history represent themselves, and how they have been represented by others.

Diversifying the Discourse (2006) (ed)
Along with Roseanna Dufault, Suzuki edited this collection of seventeen essays from recipients of the Florence Howe Award for Outstanding Feminist Scholarship between 1990-2004. The award has played a critical role in "establishing the legitimacy and visibility of feminist inquiry," and the essays in this volume offer an interdisciplinary approach to women's writing.

Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal (EMWJ) (ed)
Founded in 2006, Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal "gathers essays on early modern women from every country and region by scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines including art history, cultural studies, music, history, languages and literatures, political science, religion, theatre, history of science, and history of philosophy." EMWJ was founded at the Center for Renaissance and Baroque Studies of the University of Maryland by Jane Donawerth, Adele Seeff, and Diane Wolfthal, however in 2011 when the Center at the University of Maryland closed, the journal was transferred to the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. At this time, the Mihoko Suzuki was appointed a new editor of the journal, along with fellow Professors at the University of Miami, Anne J. Cruz and Mary Lindemann. Suzuki remained an editor for EMWJ until 2018.

Scholarly Reputation
Mihoko Suzuki is a well-regarded academic whose work and contributions to the academic study of early modern and Renaissance English and European literature and history is praised by her peers. This is evident in the various appointments she has held across her career, as well as in the breadth of her editorial roles. Her work has not been without criticism, however, with critiques of her early work 'Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference, and the Epic' suggesting a scope of argument that required too much of the reader. However, it could be argued that time and experience helped Suzuki to hone her skill. In review of the 2002 collection 'Debating Gender in Early Modern England, 1500–1700', Margaret Ferguson from the University of California at Davis stated that "the editors introduction is superb, as are their strategies for organizing this set of highly original and cogently-argued essays."

Suzuki has been awarded research fellowships for her current project 'Antigone’s Example: Women's Political Writings in Times of Civil War' by Folger Shakespeare Library and the New York Public Library. In the Fall of 2016 Suzuki was awarded the visiting fellowship position of the Ruth and Clarence Kennedy Professor in Renaissance Studies at Smith College is Massachusetts. This prestigious position had Suzuki give three public lectures to the students of Smith College, as well as running an exclusive seminar limited to twelve students.

'Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal' is a well regarded and awarded journal. In 2009 it received and honourable mention for 'Best New Journal' from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) of the Modern Languages Association (MLA). During her time as editor, the EMWJ received the 'Voyager Award' for best journal covering the period 1500 to 1800. Notably, Suzuki has also acted on the selection committee for the William Riley Parker Prize, awarded to contributors to the PMLA, the literary journal of the MLA. The scope of Suzuki's academic roles and achievements and the depth of her contribution to the literature on gender and politics in early modern and Renaissance England and Europe are testament to her respected reputation.

Texts by Mihoko Suzuki
Ferguson, Margaret W., and Mihoko Suzuki. "Women’s Literacies and Social Hierarchy in Early Modern England." Literature Compass, vol. 12, no. 11, 2015, pp. 575-590. Wiley Online, 10.1111/lic3.12281.

Smith, Hilda L, Mihoko Suzuki and Susan Wiseman, editors. ''Women's Political Writings, 1610-1725 Vol 3. Routledge, 2007,'' Women's Political Writings 1610-1725.

Suzuki, Mihoko. "Rewriting the Odyssey in the Twenty-First Century: Mary Zimmerman's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad." College Literature, vol. 34, no. 2, 2007, pp.263-278.

Suzuki, Mihoko. Metamorphoses of Helen: Authority, Difference and the Epic. Cornell University Press, 1989.

Suzuki, Mihoko. Subordinate Subjects: Gender, the Political Nation, and Literary Form in England, 1588-1688. Ashgate, 2003.

Further reading on gender and politics in early women's writing
Daybell, James, editor. ''Women and Politics in Early Modern England, 1450–1700. Routledge, 2004.''

Lamb, Mary E., and Elaine V. Beilin, editors. Ashgate Critical Essays on Women Writers in England, 1550-1700: Early Tudor women writers. Ashgate, 2009, Ashgate critical essays on women writers in England, 1550-1700.

Richards, Jennifer and Alison Thorne, editors. Rhetoric, Women and Politics in Early Modern England. Routledge, 2007.


text:
Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Julian of Norwich (1343–1416)

= Julian of Norwich (1343-1416) = Julian of Norwich (1343-1416) was an English anchoress, with many literary personas including Dame Julian and Mother Julian. Julian formed these personas for her novel Revelations of Divine Love in the middle ages in order to ensure people understood the emphasis in the development of female authors. Her novel Revelations of Divine Love was also the first book to be written in English by a woman.

Julian based her life in Norwich, in which she witnessed various devastating events, such as; black death (1348-1350), peasants' revolt (1381) and lollards suppression. In 1373 on her deathbed, Julian became aware of visions. These visions were by the Passion of Christ. These visions became a part of her writing as she wrote about them twice and wrote the book Long Text.

There is little or no information on Julian's real birth name, family, education or life prior to being an anchoress. Julian was anchoress to St Julian's Church in Norwich.

Biography
Julian of Norwich, (also known as Juliana of Norwich, Dame Julian or Mother Julian), was born in 1342. Julian was allegedly born in the English city of Norwich, where she spent her entire life and was a celebrated Mystic, anchoress, and theologian. Julian of Norwich is widely known for writing the first manuscript in English by a female author (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2021). There is little information regarding Julian’s actual name, education or family history, nor is there much information before she started to live as an anchoress for the church. What is known of Julian of Norwich’s life is that around the age of 30 she became deathly ill, but was healed after experiencing what she determined as a series of visions of the Passion of Christ (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2021). Julian of Norwich would go on to live a recluse life, where she wrote her texts while seeking isolation. For the latter part of her life, Julian lived almost in solidarity, as was contextualised by her role as an anchoress where she lived in her cell that was attached to the St. Julian’s Church in Norwich (Watson, & Jenkins, 2006). During that time, Julian also made connections with another famous female mystic; Margery Kempe, who wrote about their encounter and provided details into the counselling she received from Julian of Norwich (McAvoy, 2004).

Works
Julian of Norwich’s work is seen as unique as there are no other written manuscripts from English anchoress. Her manuscripts and her story was largely unknown until her texts were published by Serenus De Cressy, a confessor for the English Nuns. The texts were published in 1670, under the title of XVI Revelations of Divine Love; shewed to a devout servant of Our Lord, called Mother Juliana, an Anchorete of Norwich: Who lived in the Dayes of King Edward the Third, and only makes mention of her Long Text (Salih & Baker, 2009). Contemporary critics found interest in Julian of Norwich’s work when it was later republished in 1877. One critical analysis of the text is that the texts translation from its original middle English to contemporary English has caused the text to lose meaning and some articles make the case that the middle English it was originally written in provides a context that makes for a more poetic and religious experience (Lezard, 2015).

Reputation/Legacy
Very little is known about Julian of Norwich’s personal life and how she was regarded at the time. She was regarded as a spiritual authority in her community and was also looked upon as a counsellor and advisor for spirituality (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2021). During her years as an anchoress, she devoted herself to prayer and played the role of the protector of people's souls and lived a life as secluded as possible. However, at the time would have been able to partake in the making of clothes for the poor and servicing her community while she enjoyed the affection of the general population (Jantzen, 2000). Julian of Norwich is now recognised as one of England's most important mystics. She is honoured during an unofficial feast day on May 13th and a modern chapel in the church of St. Julian is dedicated to her memory. Her writings have gone on to influence literary scholars and religious sects all over the world and her writings have been translated into numerous languages (Turner, 2011). In 2010 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Julian of Norwich’s life and teachings saying, “Julian of Norwich understood the central message for spiritual life: God is love and it is only if one opens oneself to this love, totally and with total trust, and lets it become one's sole guide in life, that all things are transfigured, true peace and true joy found and one is able to radiate it,". And even today some compare her solitary life to the modern-day self-isolation that people are participating in around the world.


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Minecraft Speedrunning/Ender Dragon Fight

You will need to have gathered some resources at some point throughout the run. Minimal resources are some beds which you can use to "one cycle" the dragon. This works since beds explode when you try to sleep with them in the end. This means when the dragon flies to the middle, you place a bed on the bedrock and explode it at the right time, dealing damage to the dragon and pushing it up so you can use another bed to also deal damage and push up the dragon again. This can take a lot of practice and the best runners can consistently kill the dragon in 4-5 beds.

Probably the easiest way to kill the dragon is to have a bow and at least 32 arrows. Then you can shoot arrows at the end crystals to take them down while making sure to not look at the endermen and move away when the dragon shoots dragon breath at you. When the dragon perches you can move around to the side or behind the dragon to enter the fountain underneath the dragon and hit it with an axe or sword until it flies away. If you are not in the fountain when it flies away from the fountain be careful since it will fly towards you, potentially knocking you up into the air. As long as you've shot down every crystal the dragon won't heal. Note that when shooting at the dragon or hitting it with an axe/sword hitting its head does much more damage than hitting its body.

After killing the dragon and you enter the end portal, timing ends and you've completed a speedrun!

There are still many, many advanced, complex and varied strategies left unmentioned here. Check out other guides, resources, streams, runs and discord servers for information on these.


text:
Ethics for IT Professionals/Blockhain

The Technology Behind Cryptocurrency
The technology behind cryptocurrency, blockchain, is a Distributed Trust Protocol. Nick Szabo coined the phrase “The God Protocol” while considering a be-all end-all technology protocol in the late 1990s. His concept was that, in a perfect world, God would be designated as the trusted third party in the middle of all transactions. “All the parties would send their inputs to God. God would reliably determine the results and return the outputs. God being the ultimate in confessional discretion, no party would learn anything more about the other parties’ inputs than they could learn from their own input and the output.” A decade later Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper outlining this new protocol of peer to peer electronic cash system. He called this cash system bitcoin. Instead of relying on financial institutions serving as the trusted third party, it uses a distributed ledger representing a network consensus of every transaction that has ever occurred.

Within the bitcoin network all transactions are verified, cleared and stored in a block which is linked to the proceeding block thereby creating a chain. Each block must refer to the preceding block. Each block is time-stamped and encrypted. Each transaction is then broadcast to all nodes of the peer-to-peer network. Thus the concept of a distributed ledger. Everyone has the same ledger.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper was about money and not some greater goal. The concept of blockchain has evolved from solely an electronic cash system to potentially any trusted transaction between two or more parties authenticated by mass collaboration.

Blockchain does not require a central trust authority to verify information or authenticate transactions; rather, trust is built into the governance rules with pre-written code defining how actors can behave in the system.

Notable Attributes of Blockchain Technology
The combination of trust, transparency and immutability is unique to blockchain. Other attributes such as pseudonymity, security, verifiability, and controllability are not unique to blockchain, but are important for understanding the challenges and potential of blockchain.

Trust
Strict governance rules, cryptography, and immutability of transactions work together to provide strong security for individuals interacting directly on a distributed network without a central trusted authority.

Transparency
Identical copies of the entire record of transactions are available to all participants at all times. This is often referred to as a distributed ledger. In some cases, these ledgers are publicly available to anyone. The ledger provides transparency of transactions to anyone with access.

Immutability
Immutable transactions recorded on a blockchain cannot be changed or removed. To change a transaction on the blockchain, a new transaction needs to be added to reverse the effects of the original. In immutable ledgers, there is no way to “expunge” the record of a transaction.

Pseudonymity
Using public and private key systems, participants have a public-facing digital “address” that is not publicly associated to them, but over which they exercise unique control. This provides pseudonymity through encryption that creates the possibility of effective anonymity for participants.

Security
The use of encryption algorithms combined with the disaggregation of data across a distributed network of nodes (i.e., computers) provides security against attempts to destroy or change the record of transactions.

Verifiability
Transactions on a blockchain are immediately auditable in real time. As an immutable and sequenced digital ledger, a blockchain allows the complete record of transactions to be directly verified.

Controllability
The tracking of individual assets uniquely on a blockchain allows an individual to exercise effective and exclusive control over data or digital assets. Furthermore, transactions on a blockchain allow the secure transfer of control between individuals over the network.

Potential Uses of Blockchain Technology
Blockchain can be used in any transaction that could be digitized. “Transactions on a blockchain could represent either the transfer of a digital asset of value, such as a cryptocurrency token, or a way to link information to a particular profile, such as associating a university degree with a digital identity. Every transaction in a blockchain has a unique identity that is linked to a single entity who can exercise control over the information or asset from that transaction. Once a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it is effectively irremovable and unchangeable. The result is an immutable and time-stamped record of a series of transactions.” Blockchain began in cryptocurrency, but potential uses could be birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, deeds and titles of ownership, education degrees, medical procedures, insurance claims or even voting.

Challenges with Blockchain Technology
There are several headwinds that will affect how and when blockchain moves forward. A few of these include government legislation, energy consumption, governance, and acceptance by society.

Government Legislation
How will governments respond to this new technology? China and Canada are investing billions of dollars into the development of blockchain. Over regulation or no regulation are not good options for any new technology and particularly not good for blockchain which is very technical in nature. Some countries are banning bitcoin which will crush its development and some countries are trying to find ways to tax it.

Energy Consumption
Blockchain is an energy consuming monster. For a large group of nodes to verify every transaction, which is fundamental to blockchain, requires energy. It is estimated that bitcoin alone consumes more electricity than the entire country of Argentina. If bitcoin were a country, it would rank in the top 30 of energy consumption. This amount will not get any smaller but will only grow with the use of smart contracts and a more widespread adoption of cryptocurrency.

Governance
A key component to most new technology is governance. Governance helps create standards when moving forward. The internet has it, financial and IT auditing has it, sports has it but blockchain doesn’t even want it. It is conceptually at odds with it. The blockchain concept is decentralized and open. How does a governing body fit within that concept is a question that needs to be answered.

Acceptance by Society
Acceptance into US society has been slow. Cryptocurrency has mainly been seen as an investment. It is similar to gold in that you don’t see anyone paying for their groceries with gold coins and yet gold has an assigned monetary value. An issue with smart contracts using blockchain is the lack of legal recourse. Currently there is no way to cancel the contract or a path of recourse if problems arise. If a mistake is made there is no way to amend the contract. Cryptocurrency has become associated with criminality. It is how ransomware is paid and has attained a stigma of payment of choice for the blackmarket.

title: Ethics for IT Professionals/Blockhain


text:
Ethics for IT Professionals/Blockchain

The Technology Behind Cryptocurrency
The technology behind cryptocurrency, blockchain, is a Distributed Trust Protocol. Nick Szabo coined the phrase “The God Protocol” while considering a be-all end-all technology protocol in the late 1990s. His concept was that, in a perfect world, God would be designated as the trusted third party in the middle of all transactions. “All the parties would send their inputs to God. God would reliably determine the results and return the outputs. God being the ultimate in confessional discretion, no party would learn anything more about the other parties’ inputs than they could learn from their own input and the output.” A decade later Satoshi Nakamoto released a white paper outlining this new protocol of peer to peer electronic cash system. He called this cash system bitcoin. Instead of relying on financial institutions serving as the trusted third party, it uses a distributed ledger representing a network consensus of every transaction that has ever occurred.

Within the bitcoin network all transactions are verified, cleared and stored in a block which is linked to the proceeding block thereby creating a chain. Each block must refer to the preceding block. Each block is time-stamped and encrypted. Each transaction is then broadcast to all nodes of the peer-to-peer network. Thus the concept of a distributed ledger. Everyone has the same ledger.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper was about money and not some greater goal. The concept of blockchain has evolved from solely an electronic cash system to potentially any trusted transaction between two or more parties authenticated by mass collaboration.

Blockchain does not require a central trust authority to verify information or authenticate transactions; rather, trust is built into the governance rules with pre-written code defining how actors can behave in the system.

Notable Attributes of Blockchain Technology
The combination of trust, transparency and immutability is unique to blockchain. Other attributes such as pseudonymity, security, verifiability, and controllability are not unique to blockchain, but are important for understanding the challenges and potential of blockchain.

Trust
Strict governance rules, cryptography, and immutability of transactions work together to provide strong security for individuals interacting directly on a distributed network without a central trusted authority.

Transparency
Identical copies of the entire record of transactions are available to all participants at all times. This is often referred to as a distributed ledger. In some cases, these ledgers are publicly available to anyone. The ledger provides transparency of transactions to anyone with access.

Immutability
Immutable transactions recorded on a blockchain cannot be changed or removed. To change a transaction on the blockchain, a new transaction needs to be added to reverse the effects of the original. In immutable ledgers, there is no way to “expunge” the record of a transaction.

Pseudonymity
Using public and private key systems, participants have a public-facing digital “address” that is not publicly associated to them, but over which they exercise unique control. This provides pseudonymity through encryption that creates the possibility of effective anonymity for participants.

Security
The use of encryption algorithms combined with the disaggregation of data across a distributed network of nodes (i.e., computers) provides security against attempts to destroy or change the record of transactions.

Verifiability
Transactions on a blockchain are immediately auditable in real time. As an immutable and sequenced digital ledger, a blockchain allows the complete record of transactions to be directly verified.

Controllability
The tracking of individual assets uniquely on a blockchain allows an individual to exercise effective and exclusive control over data or digital assets. Furthermore, transactions on a blockchain allow the secure transfer of control between individuals over the network.

Potential Uses of Blockchain Technology
Blockchain can be used in any transaction that could be digitized. “Transactions on a blockchain could represent either the transfer of a digital asset of value, such as a cryptocurrency token, or a way to link information to a particular profile, such as associating a university degree with a digital identity. Every transaction in a blockchain has a unique identity that is linked to a single entity who can exercise control over the information or asset from that transaction. Once a transaction is recorded on the blockchain, it is effectively irremovable and unchangeable. The result is an immutable and time-stamped record of a series of transactions.” Blockchain began in cryptocurrency, but potential uses could be birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, deeds and titles of ownership, education degrees, medical procedures, insurance claims or even voting.

Challenges with Blockchain Technology
There are several headwinds that will affect how and when blockchain moves forward. A few of these include government legislation, energy consumption, governance, and acceptance by society.

Government Legislation
How will governments respond to this new technology? China and Canada are investing billions of dollars into the development of blockchain. Over regulation or no regulation are not good options for any new technology and particularly not good for blockchain which is very technical in nature. Some countries are banning bitcoin which will crush its development and some countries are trying to find ways to tax it.

Energy Consumption
Blockchain is an energy consuming monster. For a large group of nodes to verify every transaction, which is fundamental to blockchain, requires energy. It is estimated that bitcoin alone consumes more electricity than the entire country of Argentina. If bitcoin were a country, it would rank in the top 30 of energy consumption. This amount will not get any smaller but will only grow with the use of smart contracts and a more widespread adoption of cryptocurrency.

Governance
A key component to most new technology is governance. Governance helps create standards when moving forward. The internet has it, financial and IT auditing has it, sports has it but blockchain doesn’t even want it. It is conceptually at odds with it. The blockchain concept is decentralized and open. How does a governing body fit within that concept is a question that needs to be answered.

Acceptance by Society
Acceptance into US society has been slow. Cryptocurrency has mainly been seen as an investment. It is similar to gold in that you don’t see anyone paying for their groceries with gold coins and yet gold has an assigned monetary value. An issue with smart contracts using blockchain is the lack of legal recourse. Currently there is no way to cancel the contract or a path of recourse if problems arise. If a mistake is made there is no way to amend the contract. Cryptocurrency has become associated with criminality. It is how ransomware is paid and has attained a stigma of payment of choice for the blackmarket.

title: Ethics for IT Professionals/Blockchain