Gender and Politics in the Age of Letter-Writing, 1750-2000

'Collectively, these excellent essays show how letter writing has functioned historically as a form of gendered subjectivity, simultaneously providing political commentary, creating political subjects, and redrawing the boundaries between public and private life. A real tour de force that will be of great use to historians as well as to literary and cultural studies scholars.' Laura Levine Frader, Northeastern University and Harvard University, USA 'This volume aims to breathe 'new life into old letters', and succeeds by presenting us with a diverse and fascinating array of correspondence ranging from the middle of the eighteenth up to the late twentieth century... One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book lies in the way in which it demonstrates the range of letter writing available, and it allows the letters themselves to provide glimpses into the social, political and cultural worlds of the authors and their readers... This volume will be of immense value to those interested in literary, cultural and historical studies. The function and the variety of the epistolary form is considered in its historical context as to highlight the relationships between politics and private life, and also to describe the evolution of the epistolary form as a genre.' Women's History Magazine