Women Writers and Public Debate in 17th-Century Britain

‘Like to an anatomy before us’: Deborah Huish's Spiritual Experiences and the Attempt to Establish the Fifth Monarchy

“…As Gray writes: 'Huish's metaphorical captivity and release at the hands of Satan [is] an allegory for a body of saints held captive literally and figuratively to a blacksliding, tyrannous government and to slanderous "public reproach" (b1v)'. 54 Because of its allegorical qualities, Huish's narrative becomes timeless: it was meant to be applicable to all the saints from its publishing until the coming of Christ. The 'Holy War' between God and Satan could be mapped onto the Civil Wars in England, and the conflict in Ireland during the 1650s, but also in the hearts of individual believers, and the conflicts (private, public, or both) that they would face in times to come.…”

“…Accompanying the sickness metaphor is a call to the saints to take arms against their persecutors and to the many unbelievers: a rallying call for those who were in the depths of mourning and despair to unite and rise up text's propagandistic qualities, writing that it evokes 'a specific community that keeps its identity intact even as it crosses the borders of kingdom'. 44 I would argue that the text was published to strengthen and further establish Baptist congregations' ties to each other, whose identity was constantly questioned by doubters and persecutors. Vernon writes despairingly that 'all men almost' see the movement's division and uncertainty and Huish's text is both part of an urge to heal the 'wound' that has occurred between the geographically separate Baptist congregations, and also to heal the 'wounds' of individual believers that make up the whole body.…”

East and West Entangled (17th-21st Centuries)

“…They emphasise both women's confinement and their tactics for resistance, how they turned the sentimental novel into a new kind of novel «to discover society and history»(Doody 1980, 278). New waves of writing followed on their heels; see for exampleGray (2007).…”

The Absent Female Friend: Recent Studies in Early Modern Women’s Friendship

“…72–7; Thomas I: 7–10; and Wahl 99–120, on Philips and préciosité . The scholarship on Philips and friendship is vast, but Andreadis, Barash, Gray, and Lilley offer stimulating discussions of the relations between friendship, erotics, and politics.…”