Well, it depends on when specifically and where, but off the top of my head: iirc, there were some women doctors or medical researchers in Renaissance Italy; there were artists like Sofonisba Anguissola; I'm not sure convents had as much broader power as in the medieval period but they still interest me (I don't see why they couldn't be treated the way Sutcliff treated monasteries, especially since they were still dumping grounds for excess daughters, not limited to people with actual religious callings).
I mean, I don't think they would be the kinds of stories Sutcliff liked to tell - either you get more domestic stories or you get upperclass women wielding soft political power, which is not really Sutcliff's jam (and I think she felt fundamentally differently about male and female warriors, given her immense discomfort with Boadicea and the difference between how Frytha and Bjorn are written in The Shield Ring; so I can't see her being super comfortable with Gráinne Ní Mháille/Grace O'Malley, for example). Yeah, women's roles were quite restricted, but the same is true of the average man - among the nonwealthy, entire families would just pretty much work all the time to sustain whatever business they were in and keep themselves fed and clothed. As far as writing about men in the military, which Sutcliff seemed to like, I don't see why that's necessarily radically different from earlier periods. (And in her earlier period stuff, she mostly enforces a pretty strong division between what men do and the Women's Side - that may or may not be very grounded in actual history.)
I think of the authors I've read, Donna Jo Napoli comes closer than most to the vivid sense of place I like, but I've found most of her books that I've read grindingly depressing/too far in the direction of The Past Had No Happiness for Women Ever for me.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-04-21 09:41 pm (UTC)I mean, I don't think they would be the kinds of stories Sutcliff liked to tell - either you get more domestic stories or you get upperclass women wielding soft political power, which is not really Sutcliff's jam (and I think she felt fundamentally differently about male and female warriors, given her immense discomfort with Boadicea and the difference between how Frytha and Bjorn are written in The Shield Ring; so I can't see her being super comfortable with Gráinne Ní Mháille/Grace O'Malley, for example). Yeah, women's roles were quite restricted, but the same is true of the average man - among the nonwealthy, entire families would just pretty much work all the time to sustain whatever business they were in and keep themselves fed and clothed. As far as writing about men in the military, which Sutcliff seemed to like, I don't see why that's necessarily radically different from earlier periods. (And in her earlier period stuff, she mostly enforces a pretty strong division between what men do and the Women's Side - that may or may not be very grounded in actual history.)
I think of the authors I've read, Donna Jo Napoli comes closer than most to the vivid sense of place I like, but I've found most of her books that I've read grindingly depressing/too far in the direction of The Past Had No Happiness for Women Ever for me.