Introduction: The Female Wunderkind in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract:In the eighteenth century, issues of gender aroused great interest, particularly in the field of education. Leading pedagogues of the era came to believe that girls and young women could perform wonders of learning, if only they were trained in the right way. A Wunderkind was being redefined as someone who exhibited a prodigious natural talent that had been decisively enhanced by a refined Enlightenment education. This cluster examines both the educational methods used to teach female wunderkinder and their fate as adults in the eighteenth century, given the obvious gaps between their great prospects for learning and the constraints of their gender. Many girls displayed extraordinary talents that their fathers presented to large audiences, but their own high hopes often ended in frustration and disappointment when they had to marry and live in provincial seclusion.