La lectora imaginada en el siglo XVIIIuna aproximación transatlántica a partir de la literatura religiosa

Resum

The study of imagined female readers during the Enlightenment, as well as female reading, has been approached from different perspectives in Britain, France, Italy and Spain. However, works on central and northern Europe, on women scholars and on noble libraries have predominated. My aim in this paper, therefore, is to consider other geographical spaces and other cultural environments, focusing on the relations between Spain and America and the literature and discourse of a religious nature. i will focus especially on texts addressed to nuns, and handbooks of the seventeenth century such as La religiosa instruida (The Educated Nun) or La religiosa ilustrada (The Enlightened Nun). In the process of reformulation of reading publics during the Enlightenment, was a specific image of conventual female readers also drawn? What changes can we appreciate with respect to previous periods? And with respect to the representations of other enlightened female readers? These and other questions will guide this research proposal.