# Women's Writing Before Woolf: A Social Reference/Louise Schleiner

Louise Schleiner, born January 1st, 1943, was a Professor and scholar of women's writing and poetry. She was the Director of Graduate Studies at Washington State University and was a well-respected figure in her field. She also studied and wrote on topics of Shakespeare, and the renaissance period. She authored several books on women's writing and empowerment during her life, including 'Cultural Semiotics, Spenser, and the ‘Captive Woman''. Schleiner died on the 22nd of February in the year 2000, after a long battle with Ovarian Cancer.

## Biography

Louise Schleiner was born on January 1st, 1943 to Louis and Mary Gittings in Jacksonville Florida, USA. She had one brother, Robert Gittings. Schleiner was married to Winfried Schleiner where they lived in their hometown of Davis, California. They had three children together during their marriage. Louise birthed three daughters, Emily, Anne-Marie, and Christa.
Schleiner was a student at Queens College (N.C) in 1964 where she graduated with a B.A, at Emory University in 1965. Soon, after, she graduated with a M.A in Comparative Literature and achieved her Ph. D in English at Brown University in 1973. Schleiner was a very respected scholar of women’s writing, poetry, reviewer, an author, and a professor. She contributed a great amount of knowledge and perspective to many globally through her works in English and women’s studies.
Schleiner died of ovarian cancer on 22nd February 2000, at age 57 after a long and hard battle with cancer. Her body resides at Davis, Yolo County, California, USA at the Davis Cemetery, where she was buried.

## Religion

Louise Schleiner’s memorial service was held at 12pm on Saturday February 26th, 2000. It was held at “the Neuman Centre in Davis. A memorial Mass was held at 12pm on March 6$^{th,}$ 2000, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pullman.” (Moscow-Pullman, 2000). Two books Louise was passionate about publishing were, “Bible stories for Grownups and Spirit Colors Wrinkled in Time: Tales and Meditations.” (Schleiner 1999) These books were written about her time spent battling cancer and speaks of her struggles in hospital and how faith, bible stories and meditations during that time were relevant to her. Louise was interested in many activist groups such as:
* Jubilee Justice Equality in Priesthood
* Centering Meditation and Spirituality
* Full Welcome of Gay/lesbian Catholics
* Free Speech for Church Employees
* Free Speech for the American College of Bishops
* Free Speech for Catholic Presses
(Schleiner 1999).

## Works

Lousie Schleiner published 3 books, 5 poems and many articles in her lifetime, along with writing many book reviews and articles. Her last book that was submitted/ in progress “Spirit Colors Wrinkled in Time: Tales and Meditations,” a book of meditations and poems,” (Schleiner,1999) she wrote about her time battling ovarian cancer and her journey to being diagnosed and treated. Even in her last years she pushed to continue doing what she loved, writing. She participated in many talks, discussions, and presentations. Many of her articles empower women to speak on topics of women’s writing, gender, ideology, postmodern theory, semiotics, Tudor, and Stuart women’s writers to further continue her ideas and works, these were some of her works that were still in progress at the time of her death.

### Books

Cultural Semiotics, Spenser, and the ‘Captive Woman’: London & Toronto: Lehigh UP/ Associated University Presses, 1995.
Reviews: Lawrence Manley, “Recent Studies in the English Renaissance,” SEL 36 (1996): 245-46; Raphael Falco, SN 27.3 (1996); and Stephen M. Buhler, RenQ 50, 3 (1997): 901-03.
Tudor and Stuart Women Writers. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1994. Reviews: Mary Ellen Lamb, Sidney Newsletter & Journal 13 (1995); Lawrence Manley, “Recent Studies in the English Renaissance,” SEL 36 (1996): 215-16; Mary Papazian, SCJ 27 (1996); Rosemary Kegl, TSWL 15 (1996); brief notice, Anne LeCercle, Etudes Anglaises 49 (1996); Janet Clare RES 48 (1997); Margaret Arnold RenQ 50, 2 (1997); and Carolyn D. Williams, MLR 93.2 (1998): 471-72.
The Living Lyre in English Verse from Elizabeth through the Restoration. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 1984.
Reviews: in RenQ (twice), GHJ, JEGP, Music and Letters, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Eighteenth Century: an Annual Review (1985), and Style, respectively by Derek Attridge, Eugene Cunnar, Diane McColley, Hallett Smith, Christopher Wilson, Alan Shaw, Betty Rizzo, and Susanne Woods. Plus paragraphs in the SEL annual ‘Renaissance’ review essay, for 1985 (R. Helgerson), & in Virginia Quarterly Review 61, #3 (1985). Continued favorable notice, e.g. in Linda P. Austern, review of Winifred Maynard, Elizabethan Lyric Poetry and its Music, in MP 86 (1989): 294-96. (Schleiner,1999).

### Poems

“Naomi and Ruth,” Daily Star “Literature,” page 6 of “Business,” Dhaka, Bangla Desh, Aug. 30, 1997. “The Way in from the Suburbs,” Fugue 16, Winter, 1998 (Moscow, ID: U of Idaho P): 58-62. “Poet Places,” In Other Words: an American Poetry Anthology, ed. Leslie James (Denver: Western Reading Services, 1998): 65. “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba,” dis/content, 1:3, November 1998, Washington State University, English Department. “Words Renewed,” dis/content, 2:2, February 1999. (Schleiner,1999).

## Reputation/Legacy

Louise Schleiner was loved by many, due to her many academic positions at different universities she taught many students leaving a legacy behind as a professor of English, a poet, a feminist writer, author, scholar, reviewer, and researcher. She is known as a women’s literary writer whose works, and teachings surrounded and supported the study and teaching of women’s writing. She studied and wrote on topics of early, modern to contemporary, Shakespeare, and the renaissance period, writing on topics of women in history. Washington State University have created the "Louise Schleiner Memorial Award" (Moscow-Pullman, 2000) in her memory for the English and Literature department to award scholarships and awards to graduate students to further their studies in a field that Schleiner taught and encouraged her students to further education.

## Further reading

Schleiner, Louise. "Discourse Analysis and Literary Study: Aemilia Lanyer's "Epistle" as Sample Text." Mosaic (Winnipeg), vol. 30, no. 4, 1997, pp. 15-37.
Schleiner, Louise. "Ladies and Gentlemen in Two Genres of Elizabethan Fiction." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 29, no. 1, 1989, pp. 1-20.
Schleiner, Louise. "Latinized Greek Drama in Shakespeare's Writing of "Hamlet"." Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 1, 1990, pp. 29-48.
Schleiner, Louise. Tudor and Stuart Women Writers. Indiana University Press, Bloomington,1994.
Schleiner, Louise. "Voice, Ideology, and Gendered Subjects: The Case of as You Like it and Two Gentlemen." Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 3, 1999, pp. 285-309.
Wilcox, Helen. "'Ah Famous Citie': Women, Writing, and Early Modern London." Feminist Review, no. 96, 2010, pp. 20-40.

## References

Moscow-Pullman. “Louise Schleiner, 57, WSU professor.” Dnews.com, Daily News, 24th February, 2000, Louise Schleiner, 57, WSU professor | Local | dnews.com.
Schleiner, Louise. “About -Louise Schleiner's Poetry and Writing.” Louise Schleiner, 1999, About – Louise Schleiner (louise-schleiner.net).