Author Description

'convent Autobiography' Explores The Ways In Which Cloistered Women Articulated Their Senses Of Self Through Genres Such As Letters, Chronicles, Accounts, Guidance And Devotional Manuals, And Conversion Narratives. The Text Explores Writings By Early Modern English Women Who Elected A Double Self-exile From Home And 'from The World', Undertakings That Shaped And Informed So Much Of Their Self-writing. These Nuns Sometimes Composed Under Their Own Names, But Many Composed Anonymously. Using A Combination Of Close Reading, Palaeography, Manuscript Evidence And Other Data, This Work Reveals The Identities Of Half A Dozen Women, Including Descendants Of Sir Thomas More, Whose Contributions To English Literature And History Were Hitherto Unknown.