‘Prying into the Recesses of History’: Women Writers and the Court Memoir

Culley, Amy

doi:10.1057/9781137030771_10

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Spongberg locates British women writers' depictions of Marie Antoinette as a prehistory to Victorian royal biography and suggests that reflecting on another woman's life allows these authors to contest ‘masculinist ideas about the corrupting nature of women in the political sphere’ (‘The Ghost of Marie Antoinette’, 93). The potential of autobiography for history writing is coming under similar scrutiny, including analysis of the court memoir as a form alert to the historical importance of ‘intimacy, proximity and trivia’ (Culley, ‘Prying into the Recesses’, 149). In addition, studies of personal narratives of writers such as Helen Maria Williams, Wollstonecraft and Grace Dalrymple Elliott demonstrate ‘the complex interplay between personal and collective memories in women's engagements with the French Revolution and its legacies’ (Culley, British Women's Life Writing , 146).…”

Section: Mapping the Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's Life Writing in the Long 18th Century: A Critical Survey

Culley

2015

Literature Compass

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This essay provides an overview of developments in studies of British women's life writing in the long 18th century over the last 25 years and explores possible future directions at an exciting moment for the field. It addresses the expansion of the canon under the influence of feminist criticism and the shift in emphasis from autobiography to life writing as a hybrid and indeterminate form which works across disciplinary boundaries. It takes account of scholarly work on traditional categories of women's life writing, such as the scandalous memoir and spiritual autobiography, and considers more recent interests in biography, collective biography, afterlives and the letter. The article concludes with some reflections on potential avenues for future research, including a more rigorous approach to genre, the interrelations of manuscript and print and collaboration and collective authorship, as well as highlighting some of the challenges (and rewards) of working with life writing texts.

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Section: Mapping the Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%