Incest and Agency in Elizabeth's England

Maureen Quilligan

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2005

Incest and Agency in Elizabeth's England

Maureen Quilligan

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812203301

Overview
Contents

About this book

In direct contrast to our modern understanding of incest, Incest and Agency in Elizabeth's England seeks to demonstrate that, during the Renaissance, a small number of important women used incest, imagined or actual, to empower their authorship.

Author / Editor information

Maureen Quilligan is R. Florence Brinkley Professor of English and Department Chair at Duke University. She is the author, most recently, of The Allegory of Female Authority: Christine de Pizan's Cite des Dames.

Reviews

"Quilligan draws theory from anthropology and French feminism, and detail from history. While her contention that incest (broadly defined) often empowers women as authors may be surprising, her argument is convincing—and she crowns it with a reading of Elizabeth I's own part in this."—Times Literary Supplement

"Provocative and highly instructive."—Sixteenth Century Journal

"Quilligan writes a history of women's authorship that honors the filiation among women without being exclusively feminine, in that she takes into account significant male contributors to the 'female line.' Her work effectively combines sophisticated theory with a keen eye for historical detail to show how women authors of the period consolidated their authority as writers through the use of incestuous motifs."—Leah Marcus, Vanderbilt University

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
1. Halting the Traffic in Women: Theoretical Foundations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Elizabeth I (with a Note on Marguerite de Navarre) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
3. Sir Philip Sidney’s Queen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
4. Mary Sidney Herbert (with a Note on Elizabeth Cary) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
5. Spenser’s Britomart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
6. Mary Wroth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
7. Shakespeare’s Cordelia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Epilogue: Milton’s Eve Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	236
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 296
Illustrations
- Other: 25 illus.
Keywords: Literature; Women's Studies; Gender Studies; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Gender Studies

eBook

Published: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 9780812203301