| Lady Mary Wroth (c. 1587-1653) wrote the first sonnet sequence in English by
a woman, one of the first plays by a woman, and the first published work of
fiction by an Englishwoman. Yet, despite her status as a member of the
distinguished Sidney family, Wroth met with disgrace at court for her authorship
of a prose romance, which was adjudged an inappropriate endeavor for a woman and
was forcibly withdrawn from publication. Only recently has recognition of
Wroth’s historical and literary importance been signaled by the publication of
the first modern edition of her romance, The Countess of Mountgomeries
Urania.
Naomi Miller offers an illuminating study of this significant early modern
woman writer. Using multiple critical/theoretical perspectives, including French
feminism, new historicism, and cultural materialism, she examines gender in
Wroth’s time. Moving beyond the emphasis on victimization that shaped many
previous studies, she considers the range of strategies devised by women writers
of the period to establish voices for themselves. Where previous critics have
viewed Wroth primarily in relation to her male literary predecessors in the
Sidney family, Miller explores Wroth’s engagement with a variety of discourses,
reading her in relation to a broad range of English and continental authors,
both male and female, from Sidney, Spenser, and Shakespeare to Aemilia Lanyar,
Elizabeth Cary, and Marguerite de Navarre. She also contextualizes Wroth’s
writing in relation to a variety of nonliterary texts of the period, both
political and domestic. Thanks to Miller’s sensitive readings, Wroth’s writings
provide a lens through which to view gender relations in the early modern
period.
Naomi J. Miller is assistant professor of English at the University of
Arizona. See other books in the series Studies in the English Renaissance .
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Reviews:"Miller's extensive research proves useful for those interested specifically in Wroth, or in the Sidney family more generally, be making use of family letters and related historical artifacts. . . . Miller's reading of texts is very often clever and both historically and psychologically insightful." —Sixteenth-Century Journal
"A subtle and absorbing study of the whole range of Wroth's literary career."—Reviews in English Studies
"A step in the positive direction of providing a nuanced perspective by which to evaluate a woman's literary output, without losing sight of gender as a basis from critical analysis and without giving in to the seductiveness of essentialist criticism."—Seventeenth-Century News
"(Miller's) analyses are thoughtful, even illuminating, and her book will interest scholars who care about gender and early modern subjectivity, whether in Philip Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Clifford, Lanyer, Cary, or Wroth."—Shakespeare Quarterly
“Significant not only for its superb analysis of Wroth’s texts but also because it offers a model of feminist reading practice that will undoubtedly prove highly influential.”—Year’s Work in English Studies
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