Early Modern Women in Conversation

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Introduction Beyond the Humanist Dialogue: The Textual Conversations of Early Modern Women

   1. Introduction Beyond the Humanist Dialogue: The Textual Conversations of Early Modern Women

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 1-16

3. Gendering Conversation and Space in Early Modern England

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

      PDF

   2. ‘Intercourses of Friendship’: Gender, Conversation, and Social Performance

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 19-38

   3. Markets and Thresholds: Conversation as Spatial Practice

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 39-59

4. The Sidneys in Conversation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 61-61

      PDF

   2. Speaking to God with ‘a cloven tongue’: The Sidney-Pembroke Psalter

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 63-88

   3. Conversational Games and the Articulation of Desire in Mary Wroth’s Love’s Victory and Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 89-109

5. The Cavendishes in Conversation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111

      PDF

   2. ‘The language of friendship and conversation’: Jane Cavendish and Elizabeth Brackley’s Conversational Alliances

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 113-137

   3. The Civil Conversations of Margaret Cavendish and Ben Jonson

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 138-165

6. Conclusion

   1. Conclusion

      • Katherine R. Larson

      Pages 166-170

7. Back Matter

   Pages 171-218

   PDF

In 16th and 17th century England conversation was an embodied act that held the capacity to negotiate, manipulate and transform social relationships. Early Modern Women in Conversation illuminates the extent to which gender shaped conversational interaction and demonstrates the significance of conversation as a rhetorical practice for women.

• England
• gender
• women

“Larson demonstrates how women are engaged with contemporary conversational theories, blurred the lines between oral and written exchanges, and manipulated the boundaries of conversational spaces. … Larson’s volume is an important contribution to the existing literature on women’s writing, and deserves to be read widely by scholars interested in the early modern period more generally.” (Emilee K. M. Murphy, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 69 (3), 2016)

"...Larson's book takes us into the virtual spaces of women's conversation..." Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, Times Literary Supplement

"Katherine Larson's deceptively simple title merely hints at the intellectual riches contained within her eloquent unfolding of an intriguing early modern construct Larson's intriguing account of conversation situates it centrally within the familial and social communities associated with a group of prominent early modern women writers. Her historically and theoretically astute volume promises to enliven many scholarly conversations on related topics. One hopes that her skilful dialogue will engage readers both within and separate from the study of early female authors. Her insights deserve to be shared with a wide audience." Sheila T. Cavanagh, Sidney Journal

"Larson is acutely aware of the ramifications of space and time as well as the impact of humanism and early modern theories of dialogue, so that while her analyses provide illuminating insights into the works of the writers considered, they also contribute to a wider understanding of the early modern discourse of conversation." Marion Wynne-Davies, Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Katherine R. Larson is Associate Professor of English at the University of Toronto, Canada.