3.0

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If Shakespeare had a sister who also went to London to be a writer, what would she write? In A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf charts a thwarted career for Judith, and this will frame our investigation of the plays, poetry and prose writings by Shakespeare’s contemporary women writers, much of their work unknown to Woolf. They include Isabella Whitney, Elizabeth Cary, Mary Sidney, Aemelia Lanyer, Mary Wroth and others. Students will create fictional biographies of Judith Shakespeare, locate these constructed personae in historically accurate contexts, and identify potential support networks able to facilitate “Judith” as she builds a career in her chosen genre. As needed, mapping techniques will come into play.