The Discontent of Lady Writers

 What did it mean to be a female author during the Regency Era?

    Throughout the late 18th century and into the Regency Era, female authors dealt with many of the same drawbacks as those who read. In an article titled, “Romantic Female Writers and the Critics,” author H.E. Haworth wrote, “Ladies who did have well-furnished minds were expected to use them for the improvement of themselves and their families, and not society at large,” (Haworth 726). Even with the knowledge and skill to write, it seemed to be generally expected that women would use their education and accomplishments to improve their domestic life, not their public one. Haworth also asserted, “It was widely felt that too many young ladies and even married women published out of vanity, to show off their accomplishments to their friends,” (Haworth 727). Despite this view, the profession of writing for women did experience a rather steady increase in the eighteenth century. As Barbara Swords explains, “Some women wrote scholarly works and translations, but overwhelmingly, women writers wrote novels,” (Swords). Even with the idea that women published out of vanity circulating around society, some women were still able to turn writing into a career. As Swords continues to explain, “As the reading public enlarged and novels increased in popularity, some women writers made independent livings, and in some cases, earned substantial amounts of money,” (Swords). This creates an interesting position for women, as many didn't publish solely for profit or vanity, though some people would’ve probably preferred to believe that. 

    For many women, writing was a way for them to voice their opinions, complaints, and ideas to any one who would listen. Anne Mellor addressed this issue of the purpose of women’s writing in the Regency Era saying, “Their writing engaged in a practice that we would now recognize as ‘consciousness-raising,’ an effort to persuade individual readers to question the social construction of gender in local and person,” (Mellor 44). For many female authors, their works were a platform for them to call attention to the unfairly gendered society in which they lived. 

    However, such social commentary wasn’t always as easy as it may sound. Erica Oliver pointed out the potential dilemma saying, “Women writers were torn between the need to publish and sell within a misogynistic culture and the desire to create authentic female literature,” (Oliver). Regrettably, the chances of publishing and selling anything that seemed too overtly feministic in such a male-dominated culture were very slim. However, female authors didn’t have to be overt to convey their message in their writing. 

    Possibly the most common method of conveying their dissent towards the misogynistic society was a literary form known as quixotism. Oliver, explaining the concept wrote, “Quixotism, depicting a hero or heroine who, through romantic reading, strays from reason and reality, is at its very foundation a paradigm concerned with education … The quixotic form is thus the ideal platform from which to explore the complex debate regarding female education,” (Oliver). Many female authors who wrote or published some form of social commentary in or around the Regency Era employed the quixotic form to convey their ideals. As we will see in a later post, the use of the quixotic form doesn’t only enable a debate regarding female education but rather the female intellectual position in general. Therefore, in a patriarchal society where men often controlled the publishing world, the quixotic form provided the perfect platform for female writers to express their societal dissent in a way that didn’t jeopardize the tenuous balance between writing authentically and writing to publish and sell.