Isobel Grundy rightly argues that in researching pre-nineteenth-century women’s historical writing, scholars must define history broadly and include historical fiction, biography, court memoirs, and family history. Grundy also believes that these writings provide “a history of a whole female culture,” while embodying a pre-nineteenthcentury “feminine” relationship to history. On this point, I am skeptical, as I do not believe there was a characteristic women’s relationship to history. Instead, my research suggests that pre-nineteenth-century British women writers’ engagement with historical discourse depended on such things as their political commitments and class affiliations and their perceptions of developing historical genres and markets. We must give sufficient attention to the myriad individual authors and texts before generalizing widely about women writers’ engagements with history.
These genres are remarkably homogeneous in the way they represent the lives of pre-nineteenth-century women in Britain.
Select one answer choice.

