ABSTRACT
Eighteenth-century England saw a strong increase in women’s writing in tandem with a myriad of political, social, and cultural developments. Tracing changes within the period as well as changes in scholarly thinking about the period, this essay explores intersections between women’s writing and the rise of empire, racial capitalism, changing concepts of gender and sexuality, and emerging class consciousness. In renaming the period the “Age of Phillis,” and considering the material factors at work in literary production, the essay emphasizes previously under-examined subjects and proposes angles of vision that can continue to reshape the field.
