Announcing the 2002 Award Recipients of the Society for Early Modern Women Here is the list of winners.
Awarded on November 7, 2003, during the Society for Early Modern Women’s Annual Meeting.
In 2002, Valerie Traub published The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press).
Female homoerotic desire in the early modern age is “untangled” by Traub’s lesbian studies. This library has poetry, plays, medical and legal treatises, travel and popular literature, book engravings, paintings, and other fine art. His detailed historical background helps Traub to recognize the different kinds of lesbian expression in England throughout the 17th century. Her work will inspire students and professors in subjects including English literature, history, art history, medicine, feminism, and queer theory. This work advances feminist criticism.
Gender and History, 14(1), 92-116. An essay on gender, credit, and politics in pre-revolutionary France by Clare Haru Crowston received the essay or article award this year.
This creative essay on Marie Antoinette’s dress supplier Rose Bertin explores cultural and economic topics relating to gender in the 18th-century French milieu. This article uses a range of methods to better understand the cultural and economic exchange in 18th-century fashion and credit. To effectively promote and sell items, Bertin’s business records are meticulously reviewed. Crowston also framed her role as a craftswoman and merchant who depended on the commerce of aristocratic ladies to survive. It is written in an engaging way that makes it simple to grasp. The author’s substance and attitude pleased the committee.
The Instruction of a Christen Woman by Juan Luis Vives by Virginia Beauchamp, Elizabeth Hageman, and Margaret Mikesell wins the Josephine Roberts Edition Prize this year (Illinois, 2002).
Until recently, this was the sole critical edition of a work often cited by critics. Having access to Vives’ life and work through editions and translations is beneficial to students and academics. To summarize, this is an amazing version that makes important early modern cultural literature easily accessible.
This year’s Translation or Teaching Edition winner is Joan DeJean’s La Grande Mademoiselle: The Duchess of Montpelier’s Correspondence (University of Chicago Press, 2002).
This is an essential, accessible version that adds new text while retaining the manuscript’s original scribal elements. The committee lauds the University of Chicago’s “Other Voices in Early Modern Europe” series for making accessible and affordable publications like DeJean’s available.
“Running on ‘with public voice’: Inscribing the Political in Elizabeth Cary’s Edward II” earned this year’s Graduate Student Conference Presentation Award.
Mme Reeves’ research focuses on women’s political speeches. Her work provides enough foundation for Cary’s History of Edward II and its satire of King James I’s reign. The author effectively blends historical and literary ideas. Regarding judicial corruption, Reeves’ case is notable. Despite the growing body of work on Cary, the author chose Edward II over the more well-known Mariam.
Collaborations, arts, and media initiatives received no awards this year.
Award Committee Chair Amy Froide entered this on November 9, 2003.