Synopses & Reviews
The Eloquence of Mary Astell makes an important contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the important role that women, and one woman in particular, played in the history of rhetoric. Mary Astell (16661731) was an unusually perceptive thinker and writer during the time of the Enlightenment. Here, author Christine Sutherland explores her importance as a rhetorician, an area that has, until recently, received little attention. Astell was widely known and respected during her own time, but her influence and reputation receded in the years after her death. Her importance as an Enlightenment thinker is becoming more and more recognized, however. As a skilled theorist and practitioner of rhetoric, Astell wrote extensively on education, philosophy, politics, religion, and the status of women. She showed that it was possible for a woman to move from the semi-private form of rhetoric represented by conversation and letters into full public participation in philosophical and political debate.
Synopsis
Practically ignored for two hundred years. Mary Astell came to prommence in the latter part of the twentieth century as an educationist, a political thinker, a philosopher, but principally as an early feminist. However, little attention has been paid to her importance as a rhetorician where she is known as both a practitioner and theorist. Astell is widely respected for her participation in public discourse on politics and philosophy, and was well ahead of her time in the development of the rhetoric of care that was later put forth by twentieth century feminists.
Synopsis
The Eloquence of Mary Astell makes an important contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the important role that women, and one woman in particular, played in the history of rhetoric. Mary Astell (16661731) was an unusually perceptive thinker and writer during the time of the Enlightenment. Here, author Christine Sutherland explores her importance as a rhetorician, an area that has, until recently, received little attention.
About the Author
Christine Sutherland is a professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary. She has written extensively on women in the history of rhetoric.