The Eloquence of Mary Astell

Kathleen James-Cavan is the Undergraduate Chair of the English
Department at the University of Saskatchewan. She is editor of Sense and
Sensibility.

An eloquent and important contribution to scholarship, this book
examines Mary Astell’s (1666–1731) literary accomplishments from the
perspective of her rhetorical practice and theory. Whereas most critical
studies of Astell approach her work through the biography, Sutherland
argues that by progressing from the private mode of sermo to the public
contentio, Astell’s career shows how a woman in the early 18th century
could move from the private into the public sphere—a shift that
culminated in Astell’s critique of the adversarial nature of
contentio. A second thread of Sutherland’s argument, somewhat at odds
with her care to show Astell’s scholarship as a product of the
Enlightenment, maintains that Astell’s rhetorical practice and theory
are timeless.

Divided into three parts discussing Astell’s context, major works,
and theory, the book is further organized to highlight, most notably in
the second part, Astell’s manipulation of such rhetorical principles
as inventio (subject matter), dispositio (organization), and elocutio
(tone). The strength of Sutherland’s work is in this second section in
which the reader is treated to persuasive close readings of Astell’s
major works: the correspondence with John Norris, A Serious Proposal to
the Ladies (Parts 1 and 2), Some Reflections Upon Marriage, The
Christian Religion, and some political pamphlets. For Sutherland,
Astell’s most important work, The Christian Religion, stands out from
the rest of her oeuvre for its comprehensive subject matter, wide appeal
to an audience of both male and female readers, and passionate belief in
the truths for which she argues.

The first two chapters discussing Astell’s historical and social
context are weakened by Sutherland’s too frequent reliance on
secondary sources for citations from readily available primary texts by
such authors as Luther, Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Elyot, and Rich.
While the historical background provided is certainly helpful to the
later readings of Astell’s works, it is less persuasive than the rest
of the book because it summarizes but does not build upon work already
done.

Accessible and well-written, The Eloquence of Mary Astell is aimed at a
scholarly readership interested in women’s writing as well as the
history of rhetoric.