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Intimate Correspondence: Negotiating the Materials of Female Friendship in Margaret Cavendish’s Sociable Letters
- Author(s):
- Whitney Sperrazza (see profile)
- Date:
- 2017
- Group(s):
- CLCS Renaissance and Early Modern, TC Women’s and Gender Studies
- Subject(s):
- British literature, Sixteenth century, Seventeenth century, Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of, 1624?-1674, Epistolaries
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Early modern British literature, Gender and queer studies, Margaret Cavendish, Epistolary (genre)
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6M03XX23
- Abstract:
- In this article, I argue that Margaret Cavendish uses 'Sociable Letters' and the female friendship within its pages to intervene in early modern epistolary traditions and negotiate alternatives for conventional markers of intimacy between correspondents. Grounding the argument in current scholarly debates on familiar letter conventions, I demonstrate that Cavendish both capitalizes on and manipulates the standard temporal structures of epistolary exchange. Through a close analysis of several letters in Cavendish's printed collection, I find that memory and shared personal history emerge as key components to Cavendish’s proposed modes of intimacy. The fictional friendship between female correspondents in 'Sociable Letters' contributes provocative new insights to scholarly arguments on Cavendish's authorial mode, as well as critical work on early modern letters and the relationships scripted within their pages.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 5 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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