New book: English literature had female writers earlier than you think

A book that comes out next month argues that the English language had female writers much earlier than is commonly taught.

Diane Watt’s Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650–1100 identifies some of these figures by name and also makes the case that several anonymous writers were, in fact, women.

How would one know? In one example, Watts says, the manuscript seems to “reflect the interests of women, which would seem to suggest female authorship.”

She also posits that famous (or perhaps simply better known) monastic writers  actually rewrote manuscripts written by women — not as a censorship or deliberate assertion of dominance, but more as a compilation of previous research … and failure to cite these sources.

You can read more about some of the figures and theories in Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650–1100 in the Guardian.

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