Eighteenth-Century Women and the Arts

A major task confronting today's scholars is the reclamation from near oblivion of a multitude of works of art, literature, music, scholarship, and other creative enterprises by eighteenth-century women. This fascinating collection provides a multifaceted approach to understanding the roles played by women as both creators of and subjects within works of art in the eighteenth century.

A series of initial essays examines the biographical and historical conditions in which women of the times lived and worked. Some essays explore the attitudes of women themselves and how they perceived their roles, as well as their expectations expressed by male authors. Other essays focus on women's contributions to particular arts, notably poetry, the novel, music, and painting. A final section attends to research itself, reporting first on collaborative efforts to identify individual eighteenth-century women authors and discover trends in their writing. In addition, an alternative to the traditional scholarly methods course is provided in an example of the original research directed toward the rediscovery and understanding of the texts of Elizabeth Griffeth. This entertaining collection will foster new appreciation for the presence of women in the arts of the eighteenth century. An important contribution to women's studies, this volume is sure to be of special interest to students and scholars alike.

FREDERICK M. KEENER is Professor of English at Hofstra University. He is the author of English Dialogues of the Dead, An Essay on Pope, The Chain of Becoming, and articles and chapters in books.

SUSAN E. LORSCH is Associate Professor of English at Hofstra University. She is the author of Where Nature Ends and articles in Film Literature Quarterly, The Dalhousie Review, and Papers on Language & Literature, among others.