Anne Clifford’s Autobiographical Writing, 1590–1676 ed. by Jessica L. Malay (review)

Anne Clifford’s Autobiographical Writing, 1590–1676, Jessica Malay’s newest contribution to Anne Clifford studies, is a much-needed, comprehensive edition of Clifford’s extensive autobiographical corpus, as well as a perfect complement to Malay’s 2015 edition of Anne Clifford’s Great Books of Record. Clifford is a familiar name among scholars of early modern Englishwomen’s life writing in part because of the sheer amount she produced. Clifford developed a complex, interconnected system of self-accounting that involved daily diary-like entries, yearly memoirs, and biographical narratives about family members past and present that worked in tandem with her antiquarian projects and legal battles. Indeed, nearly all of her labor—textual and otherwise—contributed to her lengthy, and ultimately successful, quest to gain what she believed to be her rightful inheritance (extensive properties that her father, George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland, had designated to his brother instead). But Clifford continued to record the events of her and her family members’ lives long after she secured her inheritance in 1643 and, indeed, right up to the day before she died. Clifford’s life writing demonstrates a woman’s agency in action, provides a snapshot of antiquarian trends and techniques in seventeenth-century England, sheds light on elite English culture during this period, and contributes to ongoing conversations about the nature of auto/biography in early modern England.

Although much of Clifford’s life writing has been available in print for quite some time, Malay’s volume gathers for the first time the five texts that comprise Clifford’s corpus into one manageable and thoroughly glossed volume. One can thus read straight through this textual version of Clifford’s life, as composed by her in varying forms and at different moments in time, instead of shifting among multiple different volumes and the particular editorial approach and apparatus associated with each. The five texts that comprise Anne Clifford’s Autobiographical Writing are her memoir of 1603; her diary for 1616, 1617, and 1619; her autobiographical narrative, which is typically referred to as the “Life of Me the Lady Anne Clifford” and covers 1589–1649; her yearly memoirs for 1650–1675; and her daybook for 1676. Significantly, Malay’s inclusion of the daybook provides “the first complete edition” of this manuscript (12). It consists of a daily account of 1 January through 21 March that provides insight into Clifford’s last days (she died on 22 March 1676) and reveals some of her preoccupations during that time. For example, as Malay observes, Clifford devotes a noteworthy amount of time in these entries to her memories of events that occurred in 1616 and 1617. In many instances, these retrospective accounts provide more information about the events than appears elsewhere and thus also offer insight into Clifford’s life writing habits. As Malay argues, since “many more details are provided in these remembrances of 1616 than are included in the diary for this year. . .[t]his suggests that both the diary and the reminiscences were taken from a third text, a daybook of 1616” (250n76). It has been demonstrated that Clifford’s life writing corpus was likely far more extensive than what we have today (including, for example, the “daybook of 1616” about which Malay surmises). Thus, the ability to view Clifford’s extant life writing in its entirety teaches us about what may be missing. Indeed, to have all of the extant materials combined in one place is an invaluable gift to life writing scholars, providing convenience, consistency, and a much more comprehensive perspective of Clifford as a life writer.

Malay’s text also includes a brief introduction, a genealogical chart, a glossary of individuals mentioned by Clifford, a bibliography, and thorough notes throughout the volume, all of which are informed and enhanced by Malay’s unique expertise. Having recently published Anne Clifford’s Great Books of Record—which had...