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"WHAT A POX HAVE THE WOMEN TO DO WITH THE MUSES?" THE NINE MUSES (1700): EMULATION OR APPROPRIATION?
Ist Teil von
Women's writing : the Elizabethan to Victorian period, 2010-05, Vol.17 (1), p.8-29
Ort / Verlag
Abingdon: Taylor & Francis Group
Erscheinungsjahr
2010
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
Taylor & Francis
Beschreibungen/Notizen
The Nine Muses is a collection of poems produced and published solely by women writers as a tribute to John Dryden, the Poet Laureate, on his death in 1700. Some contemporary male writers perceived the collaboration of these six women-Susanna Centlivre, Sarah Fyge Egerton, Delarivier Manley, Sarah Piers, Mary Pix and Catharine Trotter-as an outrageous incursion into the male territory of poetic criticism. In their world view, women writers were completely unqualified to participate in an activity traditionally regarded as requiring a classical education, and therefore restricted to men. This essay considers whether these women, each of whom wrote in the persona of a classical Muse, were simply consolidating the pre-eminence of male writers by their extravagant encomium to John Dryden, and in particular by echoing the prevailing male preoccupation with classical literature; or whether their cooperative endeavour had a more transgressive subtext. By positioning themselves alongside a poet of the eminence of Dryden, it could be argued that they were seeking to appropriate the traditional male role of literary critic. A close reading of their poetic contributions suggests that the accusation of female presumption cannot be discounted. The essay goes on to explore these issues further in an assessment of some of the later writings of these six women, enabling a more rounded assessment of their early collective project.