Women, Letter-Writing and the Life of the Mind

What is it about?

This article explores seventeenth- and eighteenth-century women's use of letters to develop a life of the mind. It shows that letter-writing was not only a channel for intellectual exchange but also a medium that shaped experiences of intellectual life. The article takes an inclusive definition of 'intellectual', focusing on the act of intellectual engagement over the product of that labour and illuminates high levels of participation in intellectual life by women of this period.

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Why is it important?

A generation of scholarship has revealed women's lives in history, but women's contributions to intellectual life have been systematically under-estimated. By examining the everyday writing practices of women, their participation in the world of ideas can be more clearly seen. The article also attempts to bridge the divide between scholarship focused on gender history, the history of education and intellectual history.