800 Years of Women's Letters

by Olga Kenyon, P.D. James (Foreward)

Few books offer such an historical panorama of women's issues in such a small space. A remarkable voyage through time, cultures, and ways of being female.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Feminism, Womens, Reference, Historical

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Johanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dip into book rather than a continuous read. The variety shows the range of women's lives across a 1000+ years. As with all these sorts of books depending on your own interests different sections will grab you and others can be skipped over.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. A book to dip into, rather than read at one go.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

In a few words: a collection of letters written by women with lots of expectations set regarding their scope, but a lot of severe limitations (editing, and/or marketing issues?)
What: Kindle library loan
Why: just randomly picked it out, browsing the electronic catalogs of the library, and I really have been meaning to get into a good letter collection or anthology, but this was not it.

The huge, glaring: western, whiteness at the center of the way this collection has presented "800 years of women's letters," lives, and experiences. The entire travel section really almost made me throw the book across the room. The letters really spoke plainly about racism, even at its most benign ("Ugh, I do hate oppression, but how awful it is to look at a slave and how miserable they might be!"). But they were presented with very little context, which seemed strange compared to many other letters. I got the sense that Kenyon was out of her depth collecting these letters, or any letters outside of the western, white sphere--so why couldn't this collection have just been that, in name and self awareness?

Earned its star: because there are a few fascinating, gems in here, including letters written by Charlotte Bronte, Isabelle Bird, Marina Tsvetayeva, ...

[Annm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the message the author/collector of these letters was trying to send, and she certainly succeeded in doing so. However, I didn’t gain much more than that message. I think the book could have been edited differently to give even more insights into women’s lives.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of interesting letters from women (obviously). That being said it didn't quite accomplish what it set out to do somehow. It felt like a first draft to a bigger book. I mostly enjoyed it, but the flow felt a little off.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A wee bit on the dull side.

[Caz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection which I thought I'd get more out of. The travel and the child-birth sections were highlights otherwise dull I'm afraid. A case of my high expectations I guess.
Toast

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would actually give this three and a half stars if that were an option.

A wonderful compilation of women's letters grouped into various categories, though very much focused on western Europe and North America. It was great to read through, but I can see why it was remaindered.

The organization, editing, and short commentary on the letters really needs some improvement. Sometimes Kenyon made it sound like a letter would include certain things when it didn't, and sometimes her short blurbs before each letter didn't contain enough background information. The cover was also kind of bad, and that really does matter in selling books. She also occasionally uses letters from novels, which rather annoyed me.

It was a little depressing at times, given how so many of the women's problems and concerns are still our problems and concerns. It's hard to read these things, and books like A Room of One's Own, and feel like we've made no progress (obviously we have, in many arenas, but prevailing social/cultural attitudes take a lot longer to address).

Really a treasure trove of neat letters and perspectives, but I feel like there are better collections out there.

[Martin McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. Arranged according to subject areas (such as Friendship, Marriage and Childbirth, Travellers and Travelling, and Political Skills) it contains a fascinating and insightful guide to the lives of women from the thirteenth century to the present day. It covers a wide variety of lifestyles from the rich and famous to the nun and factory worker, and relationships, with women writing to family members, lovers, husbands, friends and notable figures in society. Most of the letters are by British women but a good proportion of the come from other countries (USA, Spain, France, Nigeria, etc.) and so also allow the reader to compare lives geographically. The best thing, however, is that it shows women reflecting and commenting upon their own lives, often in candid and surprising ways. Olga Kenyon provides a lucid and intelligent commentary which serves to highlight the social and political importance of the material, whilst refraining from interfering with the voices contained within it. Highly recommended for the scholar or interested leisure reader alike.

[Gooddeeds · Rating 4 out of 5]

My version was called Women's Voices.
This was a really fascinating book, if the older letters were a bit hard to follow. It was far far more interesting than a normal history text book and I'd recommend anyone to try this book or similar ones.

Handwritten letters beat email any day especially when they come through your letterbox instead of a bill!

www.penpals-united.co.uk


This was bought from a book club years ago then donated to South Shields BHF shop.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great anthology of 800 years of women's letters. Sometimes a little repetitive. Strangely divided into topics instead of chronilogically... but that was interesting in itself. Not very many american women's letters. Mostly women from the WESTERN philosophies... though the most modern letters are from a Buddhist nun writing and traveling in the 1990s.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/844062.html[return][return]Completely bounced off this one.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

cheapo bargain book I picked up. Love it. Again, like the Century of Letters, this is a wonderful historical account of life and interesting look at writing styles during a time period.

[Ann Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very wide assortment of letters from women in many eras. Interesting to read that many of women's concerns and interests are still the same even in the digital age.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the "letters" are actually from novels. Which sort felt like cheating.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

ordered from ILL today
There is also a 2009 edition.