Literata

Miss Munro was a literata, and passed through the various struggles of authorship—from the cold ice-touch of the commercial publisher, who sees no beauty in any MS. unless it can be freely transmuted into gold, till she gained the summit of her literary ambition, when her power as a writer was felt, acknowledged, and rewarded, and she was eventually enabled to spend her days in comfort at Oldmaidenhood, somewhere down in Devonshire.

About this time also she [Lady Randolph Churchill] made her first appearance as a literata in an article on the social life of Russia, based on the observations she had made while in St. Petersburg with her husband.

Even those who do not admire Miss [Marie] Corelli as a literata will confess to possessing curiosity regarding her personality, and will eagerly welcome the book entitled Marie Corelli, the Writer and the Woman, by T. F. G. Coates, and R. S. Warren Bell.

A literata who is fond of descriptions like “an arrogant, almost cruel mouth,” “the thick lips of Mr. Isaac Morris,” and “his six feet of well-proportioned body, his crisp hair, tanned face, and intensely blue eyes” is furthermore hardly likely to emerge suddenly as an expert hand at dramatic character delineation.

Confucian attitudes worked against a literary education for women, even though there were some famous literatae such as Pan Chao (d. 116) of the Latter Han (25-220).

[…] one entitled “Cultural Landmarks” features homes of eminent literati and literatae (following ME 252).

For having anticipated what Carlo Bo (1963), at the conference “Female Emancipation in Italy,” held in Turin in 1961, would have defined as the task of “female” writing; for her intellectual and political contribution, for her interest in the sociohistorical reality of her time, as well as for her candid articulation of the problematic relationship of a literata in a male literary establishment—an establishment, in which she managed to affirm herself independently of literary trends and despite her initial anxiety—Alba de Céspedes occupies a place of fundamental importance in Italian culture.

[…] the reluctant celebrity would spend yearly “command performances” with the likes of the poets Henri de Régnier and Gabriele d’Annunzio, Rémy and Jean de Gourmont of the Mercure, the novelist Rachilde, and a distinguished coterie of literati (and literatae).