Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Betty Travitsky

 Betty Travitsky (1942-) 

 Bibliography: 

Betty Travitsky (who also writes as Betty S. Travitsky, Professor Betty and Dr Betty S. Travitsky). Born in 1942, Travitsky is an American Scholar, who writes from within New York City. Travitsky has been academically active across many decades, with her publication timeline beginning scholarly activity in 1976 and continuing up until 2020. Travitsky’s roles in academic publication include scholarly writings, reviews, journal articles, editorial roles, and accomplishments as publishing director. In light of this broad plethora of roles and contributions, Travitsky is an Independent Scholar and has remained so throughout her academic career, despite many contributions to institutions such as the Arizona Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Travitsky has to her name 232 scholarly works which span across 592 publications. Travitsky’s work centres around the early writings of women and authorship, examining renaissance and early works and their context. Travitsky, within her scholarly career, has re-examined the canonical understanding of renaissance writings and the voices of both men and women, examining interstices and authenticities. Betty Travitsky was a founding member of the Society for the Study of Women in the Renaissance, as well as the Attending to Women Conferences, held at the University of Maryland. Travitsky, within her academic timeline, was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Renaissance & Baroque Studies, also at the University of Maryland.

 Works: 

Travitsky’s work on Renaissance women’s literature spans from 1976 to 2020, providing forty four years of contribution to the historical and literary understandings of women in early literature, and opening the conversation which disrupts canonical understanding. Apart from journal articles and other scholarly reflections, Travitsky has published or edited over 35 books that are currently available. Some of Travitsky’s most reputable and popular works include but are not limited to:

The Paradise of women : writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance

In this anthology, Travitsky outlines and pulls apart to work and writings of Englishwomen in the Renaissance period, using this work to build and identify a typical lifestyle for the average woman. Travitsky provides identification of the conflicting social nature of women in society – amongst themselves and within the patriarchy. The clashing relationships between women of different classes or backgrounds and the clashing relationships between women and men are explored. Travitsky particularly focuses on the alignment with women as individuals, wives and especially mothers.

The Renaissance Englishwoman in print : counterbalancing the canon

Betty Travitsky, along with co-author Anne Haselkorn, focus on five authors in this series of essays to examine commonalities and contrasts within these authors and their canonical places in the historical and literary understandings of early women’s writings. The authors centralise their examination on the authors Mary Wroth, Elizabeth Cary, Mary Sidney, Rachel Speght and Elizabeth Egerton. These examinations enlighten the reader on the impact of male judgement and power, not only in a patriarchal environment but in an environment of authorship and publication. The essays attempt to bring these authors to the level of their contemporary counterparts and compare and contrast the contemporary subjectivity.

Subordination and authorship in early modern England : the case of Elizabeth Cavendish Egerton and her "loose papers"

In this work, Betty Travitsky explores the ‘loose papers’ of Elizabeth Cavendish Edgerton, alongside her ublished authorship. Authorship is something which Travitsky expresses much frustration about surrounding Elizabeth Cavendish Egerton in this book, describing difficulty with unfinished and undocumented archives, which presented gaps in history as well as low quality papers digitised papers which could not be deciphered due to methods of ill-preservation. Travitsky follows the same path as she did in ‘The Paradise of women : writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance’ in this book, with a more centralised focus and attempted identification of points of authorship throughout Cavendish’s life.

 Reputation/ Legacy: 

Betty Travitsky, as an Independent Scholar, is one of the most trusted and cited voices in the current study of Renaissance and early women’s writing. Having such a long and spanned academic career as an Independent Scholar has eventuated in Travitsky being a central and leading voice in the understanding of early women’s writing, referenced often in regard to her analysis of manuscripts and letters, and celebrated for her strong de-canonisation of the understanding of women’s voices. Travitsky’s establishment as a founding member of both the Society for the Study of Women in the Renaissance and Attending to Women Conferences has created a longevity and sustainable community, providing centrality to the study of early women’s writings and an opportunity for students and scholars to network. Betty Travitsky remains one of the strongest and most influential voices in the study of Renaissance and early women’s writing.

 References: 

“Betty Travitsky.” Library Thing, https://www.librarything.com/author/travitskybetty.

“Betty Travitsky.” Oxford Bibliographies, https://www-oxfordbibliographies-com.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/ViewContributor/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0136.xml?id=con0832.

Egerton Elizabeth Cavendish and Betty Travitsky. Subordination and Authorship in Early Modern England : The Case of Elizabeth Cavendish Egerton and Her "Loose Papers". Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 1999.

Kennedy, Gwynne. Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 1, 1993, pp. 168–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3039157. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.

Haselkorn Anne M and Betty Travitsky. The Renaissance Englishwoman in Print : Counterbalancing the Canon. University of Massachusetts Press 1990. I https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=22395. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022

Schnell, Lisa J. "A review of" Subordination and Authorship in Early Modern England:" by Betty S. Travitsky." (2002).

Travitsky Betty. The Paradise of Women : Writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance. Greenwood Press 1981.

“Travitsky, Betty 1942.” [WorldCat Identities], 1 Jan. 1990, http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n80084133/.

Wright, Elizabeth. Review of "The Paradise of Women: Writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance", ed. Betty Travisky (Book Review), Review of The Paradise of Women : Writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance by Betty Travitsky Renaissance and Reformation, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 52.

 Further Reading: 

Cavendish, Elizabeth, and Betty Travitsky. "Subordination and Authorship in Early Modern England: The Case of Elizabeth Cavendish Egerton and Her "Loose Papers"." Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, vol. 208, 1999.

Haselkorn, Anne M., and Betty Travitsky. The Renaissance Englishwoman in Print: Counterbalancing the Canon. University of Massachusetts Press, 1990.

Travitsky, Betty. The Paradise of Women: Writings by Englishwomen of the Renaissance. Columbia University Press, 1989.