[Writing for Women, Caroline Lucas]: The Example of Woman As Reader in Elizabethan Romance (Gender in Writing) by Caroline Lucas]

I was interested to read this, having found Lucas's book being referred to by other critics/reviewers of Elizabethan Romances. I have read a few of these romances and have wondered who would be the target audience in the period 1560-1600. Caroline Lucas claims that they were aimed at women readers and makes a strong case for this assumption. There are no references from women readers at the time in existence saying that they had read any of the romances, but certainly there are examples of dedications by male authors to female readers; for example Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. The evidence points to the popularity of romance fiction by the numbers that have survived and the fact that some enjoyed reprints and therefore somebody must have been reading them.

Assuming that women were reading the romances, Lucas then asks why were they reading them and what would they have enjoyed. An issue for 21st century readers is all the romances published during this period were written by men. Written by men for women to read; they could hardly help, but to be androcentric and so Lucas stretches to giving them a 21st century feminist reading. She wonders if Elizabethan women read 'against the grain' seeing in the stories women acting strongly, independently and competently within the strictures of Elizabethan cultural norms. Remembering that men were writing about how women feel in the romances, did women readers challenge these presumptions, did they read between the lines as it were? what was their response as readers. Caroline Lucas carefully examines four texts for evidence of how male authors postulated to their female readers.

Typically in Elizabethan romances women characters are given plenty of space within the narrative. They do not take part in the fighting, jousting or wars, but they are concerned with family, their position in society and sometimes in politics. While chivalry seems still to reign supreme on the battlefield outdated ideas of courtly love no longer feature. Women are fighting for their own romantic notions whilst balancing these against the patriarchal society in which they live; who chooses their husbands or lovers, their parents, their peers or themselves? These are important and sometimes the main theme of the romances.

Lucas first looks at George Pettie's - A Petite Pallace of Pettie his pleasures 1576 which are a series of 12 stories adapted from classical Greek tales. Although Pettie places women squarely at the centre of his stories and makes them strong personalities his authorial intervention sometimes borders on being lewdly harassing. His tone is condescending and assured.

Robert Greene is next to come under Lucas's microscope; after all he was famous for his romances and fellow author Thomas Nash referred to him as the Homer of Women. Greene's female characters are usually strong resolute women, but Greene usually had a moral agenda which was typical of the time. Women must live up to man's idea of feminine virtues, he had a predilection for suffering heroines. In Greene's Mamillia it is the virtuous resourceful, women who bring their faithless men to heel. They are given significant, although limited power to act to shape their lives.

Lucas is perhaps more in admiration of Barnaby Riche who was a military man writing about martial arts, but who occasionally wrote romances. His collection of eight romances 'Riche his farewell to Military Profession' 1581 was a best seller. His fictional women have strength, independence, resourcefulness and wit. They behave virtuously and with a certain amount of freedom, which may well have surprised Riche's contemporary female readers.

Lucas final assessment is Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia and for once she does not come to any conclusions. She acknowledges that the quality of his writing gives a more nuanced approach, but she is ambivalent about how she reads him. I think more work could have been done here, but I do agree that The Arcadia and the New Arcadia are difficult to pin down.

There can of course be few conclusions from Lucas's postulations as she attempts to get inside the minds of Elizabethan women readers. It does however present a different aspect for readers today when approaching these texts. I will continue to read them and hopefully Lucas's ideas will add another dimension to the experience. 3.5 stars ( )