Antigone's Example

This book investigates early modern women's interventions in politics and the public sphere during times of civil war in England and France. Taking this transcultural and comparative perspective, and the period designation early modern expansively, Antigone's Example identifies a canon of women's civil-war writings; it elucidates their historical specificity as well as the transhistorical context of civil war, a context which, it argues, enabled women's participation in political thought.

2023 Book Award (Scholarly Monographs), Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender.

Mihoko Suzuki's Antigone's Example is an extraordinary account of political writings by women in France and England from the late Middle Ages to the early nineteenth century. Crossing the usual boundaries of periodization and nation, Suzuki explores the continuities in how early modern women responded to civil war, as extreme situations enabled and compelled women to write in defense of their families and communities and thus gain a voice in a public sphere that normally excluded them. Whatever side they were on, they presented themselves as mediators, much like Antigone, whose example, Suzuki writes, represented a model of female defiance and political agency. This insightful book opens up fresh perspectives on canonical writings and brings relatively neglected writings to the reader's attention, showing the importance of transnational study of early modern women.

Recipient of 2023 Book Award, Society for the Study of Women and Gender

2023 Book Award (Scholarly Monographs), Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender Investigates early modern women's intervention in politics and the public sphere Extends from fifteenth-century Christine de Pizan to Germaine de Stael and Helen Maria Williams

Auteur

Mihoko Suzuki is Professor of English and Cooper Fellow in the Humanities Emerita, at the University of Miami, USA.

Texte du rabat

This book investigates early modern women s interventions in politics and the public sphere during times of civil war in England and France. Taking this transcultural and comparative perspective, and the period designation early modern expansively, Antigone s Example identifies a canon of women s civil-war writings; it elucidates their historical specificity as well as the transhistorical context of civil war, a context which, it argues, enabled women s participation in political thought. 2023 Book Award (Scholarly Monographs), Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender. Mihoko Suzuki s Antigone s Example is an extraordinary account of political writings by women in France and England from the late Middle Ages to the early nineteenth century. Crossing the usual boundaries of periodization and nation, Suzuki explores the continuities in how early modern women responded to civil war, as extreme situations enabled and compelled women to write in defense of their families and communities and thus gain a voice in a public sphere that normally excluded them. Whatever side they were on, they presented themselves as mediators, much like Antigone, whose example, Suzuki writes, represented a model of female defiance and political agency. This insightful book opens up fresh perspectives on canonical writings and brings relatively neglected writings to the reader s attention, showing the importance of transnational study of early modern women.

Résumé
"This impressive book persuasively establishes the international political perspectives of early modern women writers and shows what can be gained by cross-cultural analysis of their lives and works." (Martine van Elk, Modern Language Review, Vol. 119 (1), January, 2024)
"Among its many contributions, I believe Antigone's Example serves as a model for those who wish to engage with the history of women's political writings. It would also be particularly useful for instructors who wish to include women in their courses related to the history of political thought. Suzuki's work shows us that women's contributions extend well beyond feminism ... ." (Mary Jo MacDonald, Politics & Gender, July 4, 2023)
"Mihoko Suzuki's Antigone's Example: Early Modern Women's Political Writing in Times of Civil War from Christine de Pizan to Helen Maria Williamsis the first sustained transcultural study of women's political counsel in France and Britain from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth century. ... Suzuki offers an impressive, capacious, and fascinating analysis of their important roles in defining and developing British and French political theory over a long and turbulent period." (Catharine Gray, TSWL Tulsa Studies in Women's Literatur, Vol. 42 (2), 2023)
"Antigone's Example is an intellectually ambitious book ... . In this theoretically rich and highly documented opus, straddling two national cultures, Suzuki gives her readers the necessary keys to understand complex and varied works, which should be read as major contributions to the European history of political thought." (Claire Gheeraert-Graffeuille, Journal of Early Modern History, Vol. 27, (5), 2023)

Contenu
Introduction: Antigone's Example.- 1. Christine de Pizan's Political Thought and Civil War.- 2. Female Subjects as Counselors to Queens: Anne Dowriche, Mary Sidney, Elizabeth Cary.- 3. Politics, History, and the Fronde: Motteville, Montpensier, Longueville, Nemours.- 4. Margaret Cavendish's French Connection and Civil-War Political Writing.- 5. Post-Restoration Civil-War Writings: Katherine Philips, Aphra Behn, Jane Barker.- 6. Writing, Activism, and the French Revolution: Louise de Kéralio, Stéphanie de Genlis, Germaine de Staël.- Epilogue: Helen Maria Williams, Citizen of the World.