Monthly Archives: December 2008
Marriage and widowhood in later medieval England
By Victor Khadem In her last will and testament, Isabel de Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick directed her executors as to how her tomb should be constructed: ‘My Image to be made all naked, and no thyn on my hede but … Continue reading
Germaine Greer – Feminist Icon of the Twentieth Century?
By Mathura Umachandran In the 44th US presidential election, gender politics constituted a vital stimulus for debate. From Senator Clinton’s stand for the Democratic Nomination, through to Senator McCain’s controversial choice of running mate in Sarah Palin and the high … Continue reading
‘I do like a contest with the bigwigs’: How Mary Anning Struck Scientific Gold
By Jack Coombs Mary Anning is a name little known, even in the fields of palaeontology, and geology, which she so influenced. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, she was conveniently placed, both in an era when these early … Continue reading
Apprasing and Reappraising the Aviator Hanna Reitsch
By James Maclaine In her autobiography Fliegen, mein Leben Hanna Reitsch wrote that, ‘at great altitudes the airman feels close to God.’ With these words she captured the privilege that is the pilot’s and the otherness that has caused those … Continue reading
‘A Shadow Figure of the Bauhaus’: Anni Albers and Textile Art
By Maria Paz Mendes Hodes Rising from the ashes of a defeated Germany, the Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919, took a mere twelve years to create the aesthetic zeitgeist of the 20th century. Even today, as … Continue reading
Julian of Norwich
By Nimneh Hyde Until recently, there has been a dearth of scholarship focusing on the writing of medieval women. The big names, with 15th Century Lady Margaret Beaufort as their star, have become minor celebrities, but there are many others … Continue reading
Intensity of vision: A.S. Byatt’s The Shadow of the Sun
By Victoria Elliott The English faculty of Cambridge in the 1950s belonged to two men: Lawrence and Leavis. For a female undergraduate with ambitions to write, the pressure could have been crushing: the lessons were that literature should be moral … Continue reading
Where Loss Resides
The Relationship Between Space and Loneliness in the Poetry of Christina Rosetti By Mona Sakr and Ali Nihat Christina Rosetti (1830-1894) is perhaps best known for her religious poetry. And yet, her work is often an exploration of the ultimate … Continue reading
Evidence and Reason, My Heroes and Guides: Naomi Weisstein
By Caroline Buckee One of the most pervasive and damaging myths about the differences between the sexes is that women are fundamentally less rational than men. This stereotype is particularly apparent in the context of science and mathematics; in 2005 … Continue reading
