The Writing for Women database fills a gap in the field of research into the place of women in the shaping of readerships and into the significance of literature aimed at female readers, whether for commercial or moral/ideological reasons. It provides the first systematic overview of works (printed and manuscript) recommended for or addressed to an imagined female readership, either exclusively, or as part of, or a metonymy for a wider reading public. Its focus is on the mediators (both male and female) who helped define what was considered appropriate for those readers: authors, translators, printers, journalists and educators. The database also presents evidence of circulation and readership, as reflected in subscription lists and records of a work’s presence in libraries.
Writing for Women currently comprises works produced in the Hispanic world (including colonial America) and Portugal between 1700 and 1830, using these as a basis from which to construct genealogies of translations and adaptations and to trace patterns of transnational and transatlantic circulation. There is clear potential for this model to be extended in the future to cover other time periods and geographical spaces.
