The private life: Women and the Female Writer in the 18th and 19th centuries

Abstract

When we ask about the female writer, that is, about the woman who had the audacity to take a pen and describe her surroundings: her sufferings, the society in which she was submerged, her lost hopes and the ideals to which she aspired, we also have to ask ourselves about the setting where writing was made possible. In the modern era, when restrictions were almost tangible, the figure of the woman could be seen in two different scenarios. Public life and private life manifest themselves in such a way as to justify the need to write, a need that became distressing because of the conventions and prohibitions which had to be followed properly. The public space makes reference to women’s limited possibilities such as entering a suitable marriage and duly performing a wife´s and mother´s duties. On the other hand, many women found in the silence and solitude of their rooms and private chambers, a desk, escritoire or bureau which gave them the possibility to write.