Becoming a Woman in the Age of Letters


Book Description

In 18th century France, letter writing became extremely fashionable, particularly amongst women. In this work, Dena Goodman opens up the world of these women though the letters which they wrote. Concentrating on the letters of four women from different social backgrounds, she shows how they came to womanhood through their writing.




Becoming a Woman of Letters


Book Description

During the nineteenth century, women authors for the first time achieved professional status, secure income, and public fame. How did these women enter the literary profession; meet the demands of editors, publishers, booksellers, and reviewers; and achieve distinction as "women of letters"? Becoming a Woman of Letters examines the various ways women writers negotiated the market realities of authorship, and looks at the myths and models women writers constructed to elevate their place in the profession. Drawing from letters, contracts, and other archival material, Linda Peterson details the careers of various women authors from the Victorian period. Some, like Harriet Martineau, adopted the practices of their male counterparts and wrote for periodicals before producing a best seller; others, like Mary Howitt and Alice Meynell, began in literary partnerships with their husbands and pursued independent careers later in life; and yet others, like Charlotte Brontë, and her successors Charlotte Riddell and Mary Cholmondeley, wrote from obscure parsonages or isolated villages, hoping an acclaimed novel might spark a meteoric rise to fame. Peterson considers these women authors' successes and failures--the critical esteem that led to financial rewards and lasting reputations, as well as the initial successes undermined by publishing trends and pressures. Exploring the burgeoning print culture and the rise of new genres available to Victorian women authors, this book provides a comprehensive account of the flowering of literary professionalism in the nineteenth century.




A Velocity of Being


Book Description

An expansive collection of love letters to books, libraries, and reading, from a wonderfully eclectic array of thinkers and creators.







Women's Letters


Book Description

Historical events of the last three centuries come alive through these women’s singular correspondences—often their only form of public expression. In 1775, Rachel Revere tries to send financial aid to her husband, Paul, in a note that is confiscated by the British; First Lady Dolley Madison tells her sister about rescuing George Washington’s portrait during the War of 1812; one week after JFK’s assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy pens a heartfelt letter to Nikita Khrushchev; and on September 12, 2001, a schoolgirl writes a note of thanks to a New York City firefighter, asking him, “Were you afraid?” The letters gathered here also offer fresh insight into the personal milestones in women’s lives. Here is a mid-nineteenth-century missionary describing a mastectomy performed without anesthesia; Marilyn Monroe asking her doctor to spare her ovaries in a handwritten note she taped to her stomach before appendix surgery; an eighteen-year-old telling her mother about her decision to have an abortion the year after Roe v. Wade; and a woman writing to her parents and in-laws about adopting a Chinese baby. With more than 400 letters and over 100 stunning photographs, Women’s Letters is a work of astonishing breadth and scope, and a remarkable testament to the women who lived–and made–history. From the Hardcover edition.




Women of Letters


Book Description

In a world of the short and swift, of texts and Twitter, there's something of special value about a carefully composed letter. In homage to this most civilised of activities, Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire created the literary afternoons of Women of Letters. Some of Australia's finest dames of stage, screen and page have delivered missives on a series of themes, collected here for the first time. Claudia Karvan sends 'A love letter' to love itself, Helen Garner contacts ghosts of her past in 'The letter I wish I'd written', Noni Hazlehurst dispatches a stinging rebuke 'To my first boss', and Megan Washington pays tribute to her city and community as she writes 'To the best present I ever received'. And some gentlemen correspondents - including Paul Kelly, Eddie Perfect and Bob Ellis - have been invited to put pen to paper in a letter 'To the woman who changed my life'. By turns hilarious, moving and outrageous, this is a diverse and captivating tribute to the art of letter writing. All royalties for this book will go to Edgar's Mission animal rescue shelter.




Motherhood in Bondage


Book Description

Motherhood in Bondage is a collection of confessions from mothers in the bondage of enforced maternity sent to birth control activist, women's rights advocate, sex educator, and nurse Margaret Sanger. The compilation includes confessions from mothers of all walks of life - girl mothers, those in poverty, those unfit to become mothers because of different reasons, and working mothers. The book also includes the confessions of children of these mothers and grandmothers whose daughters have been bound with enforced maternity. The text is for mothers who are also burdened with enforced maternity, especially those who feel alone in their plight. The book is also recommended for mothers who would like to know more about the lives of other mothers who gave birth to many children, people who wish to educate mothers, and prospective mothers who would like to learn the dangers and the difficult life of enforced maternity.




Letters to a Young Woman


Book Description

In January 2020, Jana Marie Rose (aka, MotherJana) traveled to Paris to write a book of letters to a young woman about the future of women in the 21st century. While sharing her own story of pain and loss, she encourages young women to find strength in being unique individuals, in meditation, in traveling alone, and releasing the shame and trauma of patriarchal religion. They can do this, she advises, with the aid of the yoga guru SexyJesus. She also shares her biggest dream and the stories of friends she makes in Paris.




Letters, To Women Like Me


Book Description

Letters, To Women Like Me is a compilation of essays and poems written by best-selling contemporary poet, Mirtha Michelle Castro Mármol. The essays derive from her personal quest of self-discovery with the overall purpose of learning herself as a woman in a modern world in which old traditions are being replaced by new ideologies. Inspired by conversations she’s had with the women in her life, she poses one to ask eternal questions in regards to love, career, sex and life; all while sharing her realizations and candid answers. It is a heartfelt journey filled with potential love stories, her discovery of self-love and confidence, laced with hope and a powerful understanding that a fulfilling life starts from within.




Letters to an American Lady


Book Description

When Lewis was 51 years old and long established at Magdalen College, Oxford, he wrote the first of this collection of letters to an American widow. She was described as a "very charming, gracious, southern aristocratic lady who loved to talk and speak well". In them are his antipathy to journalism, advertising, snobbery, psychoanalysis, and the petty practices that sap freedoms. They identify events in his life after 1950 including his marriage to Joy Davidman and her death three years later.