Women's Writing from the Low Countries 1200-1875

Title: Women's Writing from the Low Countries 1200-1875
Subtitle: A Bilingual Anthology
Editors: Lia van Gemert; Dieuwke van der Poel; Olga van Marion; Hermina Joldersma; Riet Schenkeveld-van der Dussen
Price: € 88,95 excl. VAT
ISBN: 9789089641298
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 624
Language: English
Publication date: 09 - 12 - 2010
Dimensions: 17 x 22.5 cm
Series: Amsterdam Anthologies
Category: Literary Theory, Criticism, and History
Discipline: Language and Literature

Table of Contents

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Table of Contents - 6 Preface and Acknowledgments - 18 1. Women’s Writing from the Low Countries 1200-1575 - 22 2. Women’s Writing from the Low Countries 1575-1875 - 40 3. Conclusion - 65 Anthology - 70 1. The Daring Flight of a Soaring Bird - 72 2. The Agony and the Ecstasy of Divine Love - 80 3. Inspired and Resolute - 94 4. An Urban Anchoress - 100 5. ‘As Sister Souken was wont to say…’ - 114 6. ‘Some say that this book was written by a woman named Christine’ - 122 7. Recording Practical Experience for Posterity - 131 8. What Every Midwife Needs to Know - 139 9. ‘Just Like a Rose in Bloom’ - 146 10. Word as Weapon in a Holy Mission - 161 11. Adamant Voices from Prison: Female Anabaptists - 177 12. The Gift of Beautiful Words - 192 13. A Blind Guide - 208 14. A Model of Godly Reformed Womanhood - 218 15. A Staunch Catholic - 223 16. Poetic Wit and Self-Deprecation - 233 17. The Truest of Friends - 245 18. Choosing the Better Part - 253 19. Obstinately Pursuing Her Own Course - 261 20. Uncommon Communal Songs from the Brussels Beguinage - 268 21. Anchoress and Autobiographer - 278 22. Contesting the Laurel Crown - 287 23. Opportunities for Women in the Chambers of Rhetoric - 303 24. A Life of Books - 309 25. Courageous and Broad-Minded - 318 26. Strong and Independent - 321 27. The Mystical Songs of an Ambitious ‘Spiritual Daughter’ - 331 28. Unorthodox in Everything - 339 29. Victim of Distortive Editing - 345 30. A Pietist Autobiography - 354 31. Poet for the Love of Her Country - 357 32. The Epitome of an Enlightenment Woman - 375 33. At the Heart of a Student Poetry Society - 386 34. The Unknown International Bestselling Author - 397 35. Fast Friends - 404 36. Writing as a Way of Life - 419 37. Rural Idylls - 429 38. Love, Death and Suffering - 447 39. A Blind Beacon - 455 40. A Manly Spirit in a Sickly Body - 464 41. A Pioneer of Girls’ Education - 472 42. Good Cheer at the Beguinage in Lier - 481 43. The Dutch Joan of Arc - 491 44. An Everyday Patriot - 501 45. Female Psychology - 513 46. Social Criticism from the Belgian Beecher Stowe - 521 47. Competing with the Best - 529 48. A Versatile Pen - 540 49. A Witty Pioneer of Realism - 549 50. A Superb Duo - 560 Bibliography - 577 Index of Names and Subjects - 599 Index of Titles and First Lines - 613 Illustrations - 624 Notes on the Editors, Contributors and Translators - 624

Reviews and Features

This book provides a welcome English translation of a marvelous anthology of women’s religious and secular writing, stretching from the visions of the late medieval mystics through the prison testaments of sixteenth-century Anabaptist martyrs to the pamphleteers and novelists of the growing urban bourgeoisie. The fresh translations and engaging introductions demonstrate the ways that women in the Low Countries shaped the intellectual and cultural developments of their eras. Merry Wiesner-Hanks, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Societal support for women writers in the Low Countries ebbed and flowed with the political tides during the centuries represented in this work. Women's Writing from the Low Countries, 1200-1875 offers a new and important treasury of women's lves and writing to ensure that they are remembered. This collected canon may well inspire future writers. Mara M.J. Egherman, Feminist Collections Journal

Women's Writing from the Low Countries 1200-1875

A Bilingual Anthology

This landmark bilingual Dutch-English anthology introduces women’s writing in the Low Countries from 1200 to 1875 through a variety of texts characterised by the religious, social, political and feminist engagement of their authors, as well as their extraordinary artistic achievement. Dutch and Flemish female writers produced work of ardent religious passion, ranging from medieval mysticism through the scathing anti-Reformation polemic to pious Anabaptist reflections. Other writers addressed current social and political debates or demonstrated fierce feminist engagement. Talented authors made important contributions to established genres such as the sonnet and the social novel or introduced new ones, like the epistolary novel. This invaluable volume, the first of its kind, explores and illustrates women’s historical involvement in the literary world of the Low Countries, their opportunities and hindrances, and the experiences, which found their way into women’s texts.

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Editors

Lia van Gemert

Lia van Gemert is Professor of Historical Dutch Literature at the University of Amsterdam and director of the Amsterdam Centre for the study of the Golden Age.