Today, female authors can have successful literary careers, but not many women in the past could. Professor Anna-Lisa Halling has found a way to change that.
Throughout most of her undergrad, Professor Anna-Lisa Halling (Iberian Women Writers, Theater) came across very few pieces of literature that women wrote. But, when she signed up for a Spanish class with retired professor Valerie Hegstrom, she discovered a whole host of amazing female writers. Not only did this class help Halling find her passion for uncovering forgotten female authors, it also gave her the chance to become close colleagues with Hegstrom. Later, this relationship led to the development of More Than Muses, a website dedicated to giving women writers from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries the recognition they deserve. Even though Hegstrom has now retired, she and Halling still do all they can to continue the work and to teach their students about the contributions women have made to the world of literature.
Though Halling had little exposure to Portuguese and Spanish women writers as a college student, Hegstrom had even less. Halling says that while Hegstrom was an undergrad, “she was told there was only one woman writer in all of Spanish pre-1800.” Halling now knows women have written in all places and in all languages for as long as men have, the difference being that women had fewer opportunities for publication—and even less public recognition. Hallings says, “We talk about the literary canon, the great books, as if they’re only on this list of great books because they’re great books. But really, there are a lot of other factors that go into that, and there are a lot of factors as to why other books don’t get on that list.”
Oftentimes women don't write because we don't see ourselves writing, right?
It seems to Halling that women in the past have been systematically excluded from the literary canon, and this has erased some really talented writers from the zeitgeist. She says this problem becomes even worse because when writers don’t receive recognition, no one can do scholarship on their work—and if a work has no scholarship, it becomes difficult to find the original work to read. Halling hopes that if we begin to learn and teach about forgotten books that have been written by women, those works will become more accessible.
Through the More Than Muses website, Halling and Hegstrom, with the help of Associate Research Professor Jeremy Browne (Digital Humanities), have created a database for many different Portuguese and Spanish female writers. For each text, Halling and Hegstrom commission students to write a biography and bibliography, as well as translations. Halling says that these additions to the texts “give the books a broader audience and allow people to access them and hopefully study them.” Halling and Hegstrom hope that others will use the database to find extraordinary literature, and that through this process, more people will do scholarship on these uncovered books.
Halling says that people—especially women—need to know that female writers exist because these authors have the power to inspire women from all different cultures. She says, “Oftentimes, women don’t write because we don’t see ourselves writing, right? We don’t have the same sort of literary genealogy.” Halling hopes that through the More Than Muses website, that genealogy can be highlighted more clearly and inspire more women to find a reason to write.
To visit the More Than Muses website, click here.