Catharine Macaulay : The ‘Female Historian’ in Context

This essay examines the writing and reception of English historian Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791), looking particularly at the ways in which her publications established and changed the use of the phrases “female historian” and “fair historian” across the eighteenth century in Great Britain. Investi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Devoney Looser
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut du Monde Anglophone 2010-04-01
Series:Etudes Epistémè
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/episteme/666
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Summary:This essay examines the writing and reception of English historian Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791), looking particularly at the ways in which her publications established and changed the use of the phrases “female historian” and “fair historian” across the eighteenth century in Great Britain. Investigating the ways in which Macaulay’s fame produced previously undocumented strong reactions—including events during which she was personally celebrated as well as fictional anecdotes in jest books—the essay offers possible evidence as to why Macaulay’s history writing fostered so few female successors in the genre during her lifetime.
ISSN:1634-0450