Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England

by Hannah Jeans

This ambitious and interdisciplinary book redraws the history of early modern Englishwomen’s reading, exploring the connections between gender, reading habits, and genre throughout the seventeenth century. Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England challenges accepted historiographical narratives about reading that have privileged male experience and the impact of the Civil War; the book highlights the multiplicity and complexity of women’s reading practices, focusing on how women used reading in constructing their gender identity. Reading was a gendered act in the early modern period; across genres, women were depicted negotiating a range of gendered behavioral norms. From religious texts, romances, and cookbooks, to news, household records, and scientific and medical treatises, Jeans draws on archival sources across a wide range of writing types to offer a more complete picture of women’s reading experiences, ultimately questioning the accepted notion of the woman reader itself.

Genres: Nonfiction

258 pages, Hardcover

First published June 19, 2025