Women writers over the century

Hi !! today article is about Women writer over the century, women have always been rare and the minority in the literature world. they were supposed to stay at home and take care of their children not read and learn. However women writer have always existed like :  

XVI Century

Marguerite de Navarre (1492-1549) who wrote the famous L'Heptaméron still study and read nowadays

XVII CENTURY

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) considered as the first professional woman writer she was really famous and prolific, she was a drama writer.

A part of Her works

The Forced Marriage (1670)

The Amorous Prince (1671)

The Dutch Lover (1673)

Rachel Speght wrote A Mouzell for Melastomus in 1617 and Mortalities Memorandum, both religious defenses of women's rights based on interpretation of scripture. Although there were a few other feminist writings of the time, Rachel Speght was the first feminist to write in English under her own name.

XVIII CENTURY

Elizabeth Carter(1717-1806) known for her translations, poetry, essays, and letter writing, was fortunate enough to be educated by her father, the Perpetual Curate in Deal, England. Learning alongside her brothers, she received a well-rounded education, which included knowledge of several languages. She was skilled in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, and German. As an adult, she taught herself Portuguese and Arabic. According to tradition, Carter lost her health by studying long nights as a child, and did in fact suffer from severe headaches as an adult. Her father was a friend of Gentleman’s Magazine editor, Edward Cave, who began to publish Carter in his periodical. She became active in England’s literary circles and developed friendships with Samuel Johnson, Catherine Talbot, Elizabeth Montagu, Samuel Richardson, Edmund Burke, Horace Walpole, and Hannah More.

Hannah More (1745-1833) was one of the most prolific and widely read writers of her time. Educated as a schoolmistress, she soon began publishing plays for the instruction of children and, later, religious writings, including several chapbooks for youths. She also became a part of Samuel Johnson’s illustrious circle. Besides being a writer, she was a committed religious and social reformer, establishing Sunday schools for the poor. She encouraged other women to volunteer their time to helping the poor and, as a result, increased women’s influence in social work. However, although she advocated female education, she did so only in the context of an educated domesticity.

Her works

Sir Eldred of the Bower and the Bleeding Rock: Two Legendary Tales (1776)

Hints toward Forming the Moral Character of a Young Princess (1819)

XIX CENTURY was the climax for women rights and feminines voices in literature with famous and well known writers as

Kate Chopin, (1851-1904) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1870, she married Oscar Chopin and moved to Louisiana, living in both New Orleans and Natchitoches. She began to write after her husband died of swamp fever in 1883, and she was forced to support herself and her children. Bayou Folk (1894), a collection of stories about life in Louisiana, gave her national recognition. Her popularity soon ended with the publication of her controversial, but now critically aclaimed novel, The Awakening(1898), which deals with female independence through a suicidal female heroine who leaves her husband and children in an attempt to discover her personal freedom.

Bayou Folk (1894) 

A story of an hour (1894)

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.

A part of her works 

Sense and Sensibility (1811)

Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Mansfield Park (1814)

Emma (1815)

Northanger Abbey (1818)

Persuasion (1818)

Lady Susan (1794-1805)

Virginia Woolf, (1882-1941) is now considered one of the preeminant modern novelists. She, along with her husband Leonard, was a member of the Bloomsbury group, a handful of writers and artists who originally met at Cambridge. In 1917, she and Leonard bought a small handpress with the intent to publish their own writings as well as those of their writer friends. Under the name The Hogarth Press, the Woolf’s published works by Sigmund Freud, Katherine Mansfied, and T.S. Eliot. The press gave Virginia the freedom to write what she wanted. 

Her works 

Mrs Dalloway (1925)

To the Lighthouse (1927)

Orlando (1928)

The Waves (1931)

The Years (1937)

Between the Acts (1941)

Monday or Tuesday (1921)

A Haunted House and Other Short Stories (1944)

Mrs Dalloway's Party (1973)

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. She wrote Jane Eyre under the pen name Currer Bell.

Her works 

Jane Eyre (1847)

Shirley (1849)

Villetten (1853)

The Professor (1857)

Emma (1860)

 XX and XXI CENTURY

Margaret Eleanor Atwood (1939-still alive) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history. She is a winner of theArthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once, and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award several times, winning twice. She is also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community.

While she is best known for her work as a novelist, she has also published fifteen books of poetry.Many of her poems have been inspired by myths and fairy tales, which have been interests of hers from an early age. Atwood has published short stories in Tamarack Review, Alphabet, Harper's, CBC Anthology, Ms., Saturday Night, and many other magazines. She has also published four collections of stories and three collections of unclassifiable short prose works.

Joanne Rowling (1965-still alive), pen name J. K. Rowling is a British novelist, best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. They have become the best-selling book series in history, and been the basis for a series of films which has become the highest-grossing film series in history. Rowling had overall approval on the scripts as well as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment.

Those women by their works have changed people mind set and influenced the society of their times and still continu nowadays