ABSTRACT
Mary Hays devised taxonomy of women’s ways of pursuing knowledge that argued for an alternative understanding of the female past punctuated by the emergence of learned and powerful women. Like every reformist writer, Hays’s continuing ability to communicate her views to the public depended on the willingness of liberal editors and publishers to support her. Hays’s initial commission for Phillips was a 49-page life of Wollstonecraft. Hays represent Wollstonecraft as heroine and everywoman, her idiosyncratic history resonant with the life stories of all women. Hays advanced from writing Wollstonecraft’s life to the more ambitious enterprise of constructing a history of multiple women. Hays composed her preface after nearly three years of intense work in which she reflected on her purpose and method. Hays made use of her social isolation to create some emotional distance from the painful events of the past. Hays presented herself as an appreciative acolyte in the hope that this would interest his daughter.
