Not Just Jane Redescovering seven amazing women writers who tranform British literature de Shelley DeWees

Je suis tombée par hasard sur un article sur ce livre qui vient de sortir et qui me semble très intéressant. Il évoque 7 autres figures littéraires féminines du XIXe qui sont plus ou moins tombées dans l'oubli (à part Mary Elizabeth Braddon, je ne connais pas les autres).

Citation :

Jane Austen and the Brontës endure as British literature’s leading ladies (and for good reason)—but were these reclusive parsons’ daughters really the only writing women of their day? A feminist history of literary Britain, this witty, fascinating nonfiction debut explores the extraordinary lives and work of seven long-forgotten authoresses, and asks: Why did their considerable fame and influence, and a vibrant culture of female creativity, fade away? And what are we missing because of it?

You’ve likely read at least one Jane Austen novel (or at least seen a film one). Chances are you’ve also read Jane Eyre; if you were an exceptionally moody teenager, you might have even read Wuthering Heights. English majors might add George Eliot or Virginia Woolf to this list…but then the trail ends. Were there truly so few women writing anything of note during late 18th and 19th century Britain?

In Not Just Jane, Shelley DeWees weaves history, biography, and critical analysis into a rip-roaring narrative of the nation’s fabulous, yet mostly forgotten, female literary heritage. As the country, and women’s roles within it, evolved, so did the publishing industry, driving legions of ladies to pick up their pens and hit the parchment. Focusing on the creative contributions and personal stories of seven astonishing women, among them pioneers of detective fiction and the modern fantasy novel, DeWees assembles a riveting, intimate, and ruthlessly unromanticized portrait of female life—and the literary landscape—during this era. In doing so, she comes closer to understanding how a society could forget so many of these women, who all enjoyed success, critical acclaim, and a fair amount of notoriety during their time, and realizes why, now more than ever, it’s vital that we remember.

Rediscover Charlotte Turner Smith, Helen Maria Williams, Mary Robinson, Catherine Crowe, Sara Coleridge, Dinah Mulock Craik, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

Voici une courte biographie de chaque auteur (source )

Citation :

Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806) raised 12 children without much help from her improvident husband and as a poet was “instrumental in the rise of the Romantics.”
Helen Maria Williams (1759-1827) is “an archetype of those brazen women who sought to engage with politics as an equal,” who witnessed the French Revolution as “a war journalist in a petticoat.” Mary “Perdita” Robinson (1758-1800) used “her ample beauty and cunning” to become mistress to the future George IV, an “icon of fashion” and finally a “gifted best-selling writer.”
Catherine Crowe (ca. 1800-76), an “enigmatic enchantress,” wrote a book that “employed a plot strategy that led to an entirely new genre of literature: the detective novel”; she was also an “early adopter” of spiritualism.
Sara Coleridge (1802-52), the poet’s daughter, was “the creator of the very first fantasy novel in English, Phantasmion (which displays an unprecedented and singular attention to world building),” but, alas, “drug addiction haunted sweet Sara.”
And while “Dear, dear Dinah Craik” (1826-87) “made her stand for the rising number of independent single women,” Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915) wrote “groundbreaking, utterly shocking novels” that “punched clean through the ceiling of her publishers’ best-seller records, and she became one of the wealthiest, most successful writers of the nineteenth century.”

Les grands esprits se rencontrent, j'avais justement repéré ce livre sur Instagram ! Il m'intéresse beaucoup

Je me doutais bien que ça t'intéresserait Après je me dis qu'on risque d'avoir envie de lire leurs livres et qu'on ne va pas les trouver facilement.

Sujet très intéressant, je le note!

Je le note aussi.

Il a l'air passionnant!

Il a l'air super intéressant! Mais comme tu dis Shelbylee, après on risque d'avoir du mal à trouver des livres de ces auteures...

Emmeline de Charlotte Turner Smith : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41646
Poems d'Helen Maria Williams : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11054
Mary Robinson : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9822
Ghosts and Family Legends: A Volume for Christmas  Catherine Crowe : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39485
plusieurs titres pour Dinah Mulock Craik  : https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Dinah+Mulock+Craik
Mary Elizabeth Braddon étant la plus connue on trouve facilement ses oeuvres, y compris en français .
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Mary+Elizabeth+Braddon.

Voilà pour se donner une idée....

Merci pour ces liens DViolante!

Ah super! Merci DViolante

Je viens de finir cette lecture et c'était très intéressante!!!
Suivre la vie de ces 7 auteurs, relativement oubliées de nos jours alors qu'à leurs époques leurs oeuvres été reconnues malgré une société hostile envers les femmes souhaitant écrire, était passionnant.
J'ai aimé que l'on nous présentr leurs vies mais également le contexte culturel, historique et social à chaque fois.
L'une de ces femmes recevra les éloges de Robert Southey, alors que celui-ci avait recommandé à Charlotte Brontë d'abandonner la littérature!
Une autre aura fortement inspirée Wilkie Collins pour sa "Dame en blanc".
Je ne vous dit pas qui, comme ça vous lirez le livre pur savoir :p
Bref des destins de femmes à découvrir!