Commentary of 18th Century Female Writers

During the 18th Century (starting from 1660s era to just before the Romantic Period), several writers began composing non-fiction pieces of life writing, which consisted of (auto)biographies, spiritual autobiographies,  memoirs, etc. A number of female writers were important to this period; among them were Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Frances Burney.

Montagu (1689-1762) was in India for a part of her life, and she wrote one of the first pieces of travel writing. By the end of the 17^th Century, it was not uncommon for young men to “get culture” via a tour of Europe and/or Asia. More women did this over time, but Montagu was one of the earliest to write about it. Thi was a period when people expected letters to be passed around in a limited form of circulation. Letters often went astray, delayed, or lost in the process. To those living in foreign countries, letters were important forms of communication. Montagu paid a lot of attention in her word choice, description, and detailing of various cultures. As a result, she made travel writing interesting for many women and other writers. Despite the fact that Montagu was married, Alexander Pope wrote a number of affectionate letters complete with romantic themes and double entendres. When she writes to him,she tells him that she is not interested. Montagu is basically saying that she will not answer to certain parts of his letters, which she considers to be inappropriate. At one point, she dismisses him as being romantic and sentimental by telling him that marriage would only bring about unhappiness. His poem (which he composed for her) is implying that the possibility of  relationship is worth it, but she is making fun of his ego/pretentiousness. She responds to his with some vinegar in a classy, masterful way of rejection.

Unlike most of her peers, Frances Burney lived to a very old age (1752-1840). While a lot of her fellow writers were established poets and older, she was quite younger at the time. She wrote a great amount of novels, plays, journals, and letters on a variety of subjects which included the female experience, satirizing masculine values/ideals, etc. Specifically, her letter on getting a mastectomy after the fact was intended to be read in the family circle, so it would have been public to that extent. The text portrays the experience as being painful, horrific, and acute with sensory details. At the time, anaesthesia was not widely used, so the pain would have been almost unbearable, and the recovery period alone would be just as difficult. Any housekeeping how-to-book of the 18^th Century would have a heavy section on first aid. Since there were no hospitals back then, the average parent or housewife would have a good knowledge of basic care, but most people distrusted doctors and medical practices. Her style is very diverse, detailed, and brutally gripping in all its frankness.

Both Montagu and Burney were both important female writers of the 18th Century. While the former made travel writing interesting for women and other writers, the latter's journals and letters paint a vivid picture of life for the 18th Century female.