Alison Findlay – författare

The Lives and Afterlives of the Sidney Women Writers charts the multifarious connections between the lives and works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561– 1621), and Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth (1587– 1651).

Bringing together essays by renowned experts on the Sidney women and a new generation of scholars, the collection shows how the Sidney women did not so much write about their lives as they lived their lives through their texts, and continue to do so in contemporary reinventions of their lives and works. Engaging with contexts of place, race, literary traditions and aesthetics, including two new creative biofictional accounts, the chapters offer dynamic, mutually illuminating perspectives, showing how literary texts and biography enlighten and complicate each other for mutual enrichment.

The book’s specific illustrations of fluidity and porousness between the Sidney women’s lives and works offer precise, tailor- made interpretations of the varied circumstances which produced the Sidney women writers.

The Lives and Afterlives of the Sidney Women Writers charts the multifarious connections between the lives and works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561– 1621), and Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth (1587– 1651).

Bringing together essays by renowned experts on the Sidney women and a new generation of scholars, the collection shows how the Sidney women did not so much write about their lives as they lived their lives through their texts, and continue to do so in contemporary reinventions of their lives and works. Engaging with contexts of place, race, literary traditions and aesthetics, including two new creative biofictional accounts, the chapters offer dynamic, mutually illuminating perspectives, showing how literary texts and biography enlighten and complicate each other for mutual enrichment.

The book’s specific illustrations of fluidity and porousness between the Sidney women’s lives and works offer precise, tailor- made interpretations of the varied circumstances which produced the Sidney women writers.

There is a traditional view that women were absent from the field of dramatic production in the early modern period because of their exclusion from professional theatre. Women and Dramatic Production 1550-1700 challenges this view and breaks new ground in arguing that, far from writing in closeted retreat, a select number of women took an active part in directing and controlling dramatic self-representations.

Examining texts from the mid-sixteenth century through to the end of the seventeenth, the chapters trace the development of a women-centred aesthetic in a variety of dramatic forms. Plays by noblewomen such as Mary Sidney, Elizabeth Cary, Mary Wroth, Rachel Fane and the women of the Cavendish family, form an alternative dramatic tradition centred on the household. The powerful directorial and performative roles played by queens in royal progresses and masques are explored as examples of women''s dramatic production in the royal court.

The book also highlights women''s performances in alternative venues, such as the courtroom and the pulpit, arguing that the practices of martyrs like Margaret Clitherow or visionaries like Anna Trapnel call into question traditional definitions of theatre. The challenges faced by women who were admitted to the professional theatre companies after 1660 are explored in two chapters which deal with the plays of Katherine Philips, Elizabeth Polwhele, Aphra Behn, and Mary Pix, among others.

By considering the theatrical dimensions of a wide range of early modern women''s writing, this book reveals the breathtaking panorama of women''s dramatic production and will be essential reading for students of women''s writing and renaissance drama.

There is a traditional view that women were absent from the field of dramatic production in the early modern period because of their exclusion from professional theatre. Women and Dramatic Production 1550-1700 challenges this view and breaks new ground in arguing that, far from writing in closeted retreat, a select number of women took an active part in directing and controlling dramatic self-representations.

Examining texts from the mid-sixteenth century through to the end of the seventeenth, the chapters trace the development of a women-centred aesthetic in a variety of dramatic forms. Plays by noblewomen such as Mary Sidney, Elizabeth Cary, Mary Wroth, Rachel Fane and the women of the Cavendish family, form an alternative dramatic tradition centred on the household. The powerful directorial and performative roles played by queens in royal progresses and masques are explored as examples of women''s dramatic production in the royal court.

The book also highlights women''s performances in alternative venues, such as the courtroom and the pulpit, arguing that the practices of martyrs like Margaret Clitherow or visionaries like Anna Trapnel call into question traditional definitions of theatre. The challenges faced by women who were admitted to the professional theatre companies after 1660 are explored in two chapters which deal with the plays of Katherine Philips, Elizabeth Polwhele, Aphra Behn, and Mary Pix, among others.

By considering the theatrical dimensions of a wide range of early modern women''s writing, this book reveals the breathtaking panorama of women''s dramatic production and will be essential reading for students of women''s writing and renaissance drama.