Excuse my dust: Introduction
As we read we asked these questions:
How good is it?
Does it entertain, inspire and/or instruct us?
Is it relevant to us and to our time?
Why do you think her work is not particularly well known?
How Scottish is this?
In language or setting?
In theme? (the legacy of Calvinism and the closeness of the spirit world were two suggestions…….)
Would you know it was by a woman?
What do you expect of a woman writer?
(Domestic detail? Focussing on relationships?
Dealing with the spaces and silences of patriarchal writing? (Elphinstone))
Would this only appeal to women readers?
In our study we were greatly helped by
- The Hundred Writers: a Scottish Inheritance: a poster of 100 Scottish Women writers published by PEN £3 available at the Writers’ Museum
- The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish women edit. Ewan, Innes and Reynolds