Subjects
Conduct Literature for Women, Part II, 1640–1710
General Editors: William St Clair and Irmgard Maassen
Conduct Literature for Women
978 1 85196 530 4: 234x156mm: £495.00/$840.00
Availability: Japan: Kinokuniya
Spanning the years from c.1640 to 1710, a period of political, social and religious turmoil and reconstitution, Conduct Literature for Women Part II bridges the transition from a paradigm of virtuous conduct that was based on biblical precept and embedded in a universal hierarchy of reciprocal duties, to the sentimental view of femininity that came to dominate in the eighteenth century. Whereas Puritans attempted to uphold the pious virtues of the godly household, others turned to French models of polite manners that were becoming ever more central in defining subtle distinctions of gentility.
Conduct texts began to rely for their legitimation more on reasoned argument, while the traditional demands for female obedience were transformed into less direct and more elegant instructions to internalise a well-bred self-restraint. Although old misogynist stereotypes survived and continued to inform popular pamphlet literature, and chastity, modesty and submission remained at the core of even the more worldly conduct advice, the underlying rationale was shifting from strictures on duty to appeals to a sense of honour and decorum.
With the beginning of modern political theory, the tension between general principles of natural justice and the inequities of patriarchal marriage generated an extended debate, in which, for the first time, female authors intervened in print on behalf of their sex to put forward a sustained argument for women’s liberty and education.
Contents
Volume 1
Jacques du Boscq, The Excellent Woman, Part 1 (1692); A Spirit Moving in the Women-Preachers (1646); [Margaret Fell], Womens Speaking Justified (1667); J S, A Brief Anatomie of Women (1653); The Virgins A. B. C. ([c. 1680s]); Directorium Cosmeticum (1684)
Volume 2
Francis Osborne, Advice to a Son (1658); Eugenius Theodidactus [John Heydon], extracts from Advice to a Daughter (1658); A Discourse of Auxiliary Beauty (1656); George Savile Lord Halifax, extracts from The Lady’s New-Year’s-Gift: Or, Advice to a Daughter (1700) and engraved frontispiece and title page from the small seventh edition (1701); Anna Maria van Schurman, The Learned Maid (1659); [Bathsua Makin] An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen (1673); [Mary Astell] Reflections Upon Marriage (1706)
Volume 3
[Richard Allestree], extract from The Gentleman’s Calling (1682) and The Ladies Calling (1687); [William Darrell], extracts from The Gentleman Instructed (1755)
Volume 4
Robert Codrington, extracts from The Second Part of Youths Behaviour (1664); Hannah Woolley, extracts from The Gentlewoman’s Companion (1675)
Volume 5
[Judith Drake], An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex (1697); Ez. Symson [trans. from Madame de Pringy], A farther Essay Relating to the Female-Sex (1696); John Sprint, The Bride-Womans Counseller ([1699]); Eugenia, The Female Advocate (1700)
Volume 6
François Fénelon, Instructions for the Education of a Daughter (1708)
Reviews
'this is an excellent resource for scholars interested in conduct literature, as well as for those scholars who wish to gain access to learned information about the literature in order to further their own research in the period.’
– Jessica C Murphy, Early Modern Bookshelf