Recovering Lost Female Voices: Gender, Theology and Politics in Lucy Hutchinson's Order and Disorder

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My thesis seeks to recover the voice of Lucy Hutchinson, a seventeenth-century Republican and Puritan writing in Nottingham during the English Civil War. My research focuses on Hutchinson's commentary on The Book of Genesis, Order and Disorder which was anonymously printed in 1679. I aim to recontextualize the epic in relation to how Hutchinson engages with her political and religious environment, including the polarizing stances between Royalists and Republicans and typological disputes between religious sects such as Arminians and Protestants. Little attention has been paid to Hutchinson's 'religious exercizes,' (DD/HU/3) a personal commonplace book charting her theological evolution from 1650-1675, correlating with changing attitudes following the Restoration of the monarchy. The commonplace book has only been partially published in 2018, meaning that extensive scholarship has yet to be done on reading Hutchinson's personal statements of belief into the sub-text of Order and Disorder.This project will:Research Hutchinson's theological evolution and Republican ideology in Order and Disorder.; Investigate the implications of Hutchinson's political and religious affiliations following the Restoration of the monarchy;Compare Hutchinson's views to that of her literary peers, e.g. fellow Republicans John Milton(Tetrachordon), Thomas Hobbes (Leviathan) and the Royalist Margaret Cavendish; To question what Norbrook terms Hutchinson's 'lack of an assertive female voice' and how this has obstructed the recension and study of her work.Building on my undergraduate research, my MA has allowed me to further explore Lucy Hutchinson's corpus at the Nottingham County Archives alongside giving me experience in early modern editorial practices and transcriptions, paleography and book history. The University of Nottingham is the best place for me to conduct my research. Hutchinson lived in Nottingham Castle during the English Civil War, and the Nottingham County Archives hold most of the original manuscripts of her work. Dr Alison Bumke, a specialist in seventeenth-century literature is organizing the University's international research symposium on Lucy Hutchinson in June 2020, which is timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Hutchinson's birth. This symposium is part of a larger project on women's writing of the English Civil War that the University will host over the next 3 to 5years. Professor Lynda Pratt founded the University's Centre for Regional Literature and Culture, which promotes engagement with Nottingham heritage and literature. She also has proven expertise in the textual and contextual recovery of 'lost' authors. Dr. Gillian Wright specializes in Restoration poetry and book history.