Beyond Canonicity: The Future(s) of Early Modern Women Writers

Document Type

Preface

Authors

Jaime Goodrich, Wayne State UniversityFollow
Paula McQuade, DePaul UniversityFollow

Abstract

This introduction to a special issue on “The Future(s) of Early Modern Women Writers” provides a thumbnail sketch of this subfield’s history in order to pinpoint its successes and failures. While scholars have located, edited, and analyzed a robust corpus of works by early modern women writers, these texts have yet to be fully integrated into the canon of early modern literature. A genre of “marginalization lit” has consequently arisen in which feminist critics seek to identify and remedy the factors behind this exclusion. Arguing that pervasive structural issues are actually to blame, this essay notes that the anti-hierarchical, idiosyncratic canon of early modern women writers offers a glimpse of a more egalitarian model for literary study. From that vantagepoint, the future of early modern women writers is the future of early modern literature itself.

Recommended Citation

Goodrich, Jaime and McQuade, Paula (2021) "Beyond Canonicity: The Future(s) of Early Modern Women Writers," Criticism: Vol. 63: Iss. 1, Article 1.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/criticism/vol63/iss1/1