How useful is biography as a critical tool when reading early women writers?

[AlisonSherwood]

This question is majorly in terms of Margery Kempe, Mary Wroth, Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn if possible!

Any ideas guys? :)

[ennison]

A good biography is always useful especially when you are dealing with people whose lives and times are very different to your own. A good biography should be a pleasure to read as well as informative but you have to remember even the best biography is no substitute for the work itself and all it does is fill in a few blanks in your understanding. It might answer questions like Why did she write that then? Who was she addressing there? Where did she get that idea from? What difficulty or tragedy is she alluding to there? When did she meet so and so? Is that really how the "dentist" treated her? Etc etc. if you get a feel for the life and times you'll get a better feel for the work.

[chrisvia]

removed