The obstacles that eighteenth-century women writers had to surmount were constant reminders of the ‘place’ they held in the literary world of their time. Although they were not denied participation – in addition to their publications, there are records of their personal interactions with male writers in salons, academies, and correspondence – they could not forget that they were women. Pursuing such an activity also made them eminently aware of not conforming to the generally accepted ‘norm’ of female behaviour. Women's uneasy position affected their relationship to writing and, most importantly, to the decisive step of going public with what they wrote.

The anxiety of publicity

Writing – that is, taking notes and reflecting on readings for one's own edification or pleasure – was deemed an appropriate activity for elite women. In Madeleine de Puisieux's Conseils à une amie (1749) the mentor recommended writing to her young friend: ‘Écrivez beaucoup: en écrivant on se forme le style; l'on apprend sa Langue, qu'il est honteux de ne pas savoir pour une fille de condition. Écrivez donc: faites des remarques sur vos lectures; on s'en imprime mieux dans la mémoire ce que l'on a lu’ (‘Write as much as possible: by writing you will develop your style, learn your own language because a young woman of your rank should be ashamed not to know it well. Write: make comments on your readings; it will help you better remember what you have read’).