What is the place of women writers in literary history, and the history of women’s print media? Megan Peiser’s chapter answers these questions through the specific lens of Romantic women reviewers’ assessments of work by Romantic women novelists. The chapter begins by accounting for the difficulties of its approach. Since periodical voices are often collaborative, anonymous/pseudonymous and published serially they require readers to chase their commitment to these publications through multiple issues rather than declaring completeness and authority through a single accessible printing. The chapter proceeds with detailed accounts of the reviewing careers of Elizabeth Moody and Anna Barbauld and how they used their contingent presence as writers for the Monthly Review (1749–1844) to bolster the works of women writers of the period in a medium that has traditionally been perceived to be hostile to women’s writing.
