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Apology for the Woman Writing and Other Works

Marie le Jars de Gournay

During her lifetime, the gifted writer Marie le Jars de Gournay (1565–1645) was celebrated as one of the “seventy most famous women of all time” in Jean de la Forge's Circle of Learned Women (1663). ... More

During her lifetime, the gifted writer Marie le Jars de Gournay (1565–1645) was celebrated as one of the “seventy most famous women of all time” in Jean de la Forge's Circle of Learned Women (1663). The adopted daughter of Michel de Montaigne, as well as his editor, she was a major literary force and a pioneering feminist voice during a tumultuous period in France. This volume presents translations of four of Gournay's works that address feminist issues. Two of these appear here in English for the first time: The Promenade of Monsieur de Montaigne and The Apology for the Woman Writing. One of the first modern psychological novels, the best-selling Promenade was also the first to explore female sexual feeling. With the autobiographical Apology, Gournay defended every aspect of her life, from her moral conduct to her household management. The book also includes her last revisions (1641) of her two best-known feminist treatises: The Equality of Men and Women and The Ladies' Complaint. The editors provide a general overview of Gournay's career, as well as individual introductions and extensive annotations for each work.Less

Book for the Hour of Recreation

Maria de San Jose Salazar

Alison Weber (ed.)

María de San José Salazar (1548–1603) took the veil as a Discalced (“barefoot”) Carmelite nun in 1571, becoming one of Teresa of Avila's most important collaborators in religious reform and serving ... More

María de San José Salazar (1548–1603) took the veil as a Discalced (“barefoot”) Carmelite nun in 1571, becoming one of Teresa of Avila's most important collaborators in religious reform and serving as prioress of the Seville and Lisbon convents. Within the parameters of the strict Catholic Reformation in Spain, she fiercely defended women's rights to define their own spiritual experience and to teach, inspire, and lead other women in reforming their church. María wrote this book as a defense of the Discalced practice of setting aside two hours each day for conversation, music, and the staging of religious plays. Casting the book in the form of a dialogue, she demonstrates through fictional conversations among a group of nuns during their hours of recreation how women could serve as very effective spiritual teachers for each other. The book includes one of the first biographical portraits of Teresa and María's personal account of the troubled founding of the Discalced convent at Seville, as well as María's tribulations as an Inquisitional suspect. Rich in allusions to women's affective relationships in the early modern convent, it also serves as an example of how a woman might write when relatively free of clerical censorship and expectations.Less

The Complete Writings of an Italian Heretic

Olympia Morata

A brilliant scholar and one of the finest writers of her day, Olympia Fulvia Morata (1526–1555) was attacked by some as a “Calvinist Amazon” but praised by others as an inspiration to all learned ... More

A brilliant scholar and one of the finest writers of her day, Olympia Fulvia Morata (1526–1555) was attacked by some as a “Calvinist Amazon” but praised by others as an inspiration to all learned women. This book publishes all her known writings—orations, dialogues, letters, and poems—in an English translation. Raised in the court of Ferrara in Italy, Morata was educated alongside the daughters of the nobility. As a youth she gave public lectures on Cicero, wrote commentaries on Homer, and composed poems, dialogues, and orations in both Latin and Greek. Morata also became a prominent Protestant evangelical, studying the Bible extensively and corresponding with many of the leading theologians of the Reformation. After fleeing to Germany in search of religious freedom, she tutored students in Greek and composed what many at the time felt were her finest works: a series of translations of the Psalms into Greek hexameters and sapphics.Less

The Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes

Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and Rene Descartes

Between the years 1643 and 1649, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–80) and René Descartes (1596–1650) exchanged fifty-eight letters—thirty-two from Descartes and twenty-six from Elisabeth. Their ... More

Between the years 1643 and 1649, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–80) and René Descartes (1596–1650) exchanged fifty-eight letters—thirty-two from Descartes and twenty-six from Elisabeth. Their correspondence contains the only known extant philosophical writings by Elisabeth, revealing her mastery of metaphysics, analytic geometry, and moral philosophy, as well as her keen interest in natural philosophy. The letters are essential reading for anyone interested in Descartes's philosophy, in particular his account of the human being as a union of mind and body, as well as his ethics. They also provide an insight into the character of their authors, and the way ideas develop through intellectual collaboration. Philosophers have long been familiar with Descartes's side of the correspondence. Elisabeth's letters add context and depth both to Descartes's ideas and the legacy of the princess. This annotated edition also includes Elisabeth's correspondence with the Quakers William Penn and Robert Barclay.Less

Debate of the Romance of the Rose

Christine de Pizan

In 1401, Christine de Pizan (1365–1430?), one of the most renowned and prolific woman writers of the Middle Ages, wrote a letter to the provost of Lille criticizing the highly popular and widely read ... More

In 1401, Christine de Pizan (1365–1430?), one of the most renowned and prolific woman writers of the Middle Ages, wrote a letter to the provost of Lille criticizing the highly popular and widely read Romance of the Rose for its blatant and unwarranted misogynistic depictions of women. The debate that ensued, over not only the merits of the treatise but also of the place of women in society, started Europe on the long path to gender parity. Pizan's criticism sparked a continent-wide discussion of issues that is still alive today in disputes about art and morality, especially the civic responsibility of a writer or artist for the works he or she produces. This book collects, along with the debate documents themselves, letters, sermons, and excerpts from other works of Pizan, including one from City of Ladies—her major defense of women and their rights—that give context to this debate. Here, Pizan's supporters and detractors are heard alongside her own formidable, protofeminist voice.Less

Discourse to Lady Lavinia His Daughter

Annibal Guasco

When eleven-year-old Lavinia Guasca began her new life as a lady-in-waiting at the court of Turin, she brought with her a parting gift from her father Annibal (1540–1619): a detailed guidebook he ... More

When eleven-year-old Lavinia Guasca began her new life as a lady-in-waiting at the court of Turin, she brought with her a parting gift from her father Annibal (1540–1619): a detailed guidebook he wrote to help steer her through the many pitfalls of court life. Lavinia had her father's Discourse published in 1586. The Discourse displays an incredibly far-sighted view of women's education. Annibal thought gifted young girls should develop their talents and apply them to careers outside the home. In the Discourse, he details the unique and extremely rigorous educational program to which he had subjected Lavinia almost from the cradle with this end in mind. To complete Lavinia's education, Annibal filled the Discourse with advice on spirituality and morality, health and beauty, and how to behave at court—everything a well-bred lady-in-waiting would need to know. This edition also includes an appendix that traces the later events of Lavinia's life through excerpts from her father's letters.Less

Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion

Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor

At the height of María de Zayas's popularity in the mid-eighteenth century, the number of editions in print of her work was exceeded only by the novels of Cervantes. But by the end of the nineteenth ... More

At the height of María de Zayas's popularity in the mid-eighteenth century, the number of editions in print of her work was exceeded only by the novels of Cervantes. But by the end of the nineteenth century, Zayas had been excluded from the Spanish literary canon because of her gender and the sociopolitical changes that swept Spain and Europe. This book gathers a representative sample of seven stories, which features Zayas's signature topics—gender equality and domestic violence—written in an impassioned tone overlaid with conservative Counter-Reformation ideology. This edition updates the scholarship since the most recent English translations, with a new introduction to Zayas's entire body of stories, and restores Zayas's author's note and prologue, omitted from previous English-language editions. Tracing her slow but steady progress from notions of ideal love to love's treachery, this book aims to restore Zayas to her rightful place in modern letters.Less

Katherine Parr: Complete Works and Correspondence

Katherine Parr

Janel Mueller (ed.)

To the extent that she is popularly known, Katherine Parr (1512–48) is the woman who survived King Henry VIII as his sixth and last wife. She merits far greater recognition, however, on several other ... More

To the extent that she is popularly known, Katherine Parr (1512–48) is the woman who survived King Henry VIII as his sixth and last wife. She merits far greater recognition, however, on several other fronts. Fluent in French, Italian, and Latin, Parr also began, out of necessity, to learn Spanish when she ascended to the throne in 1543. As Henry's wife and queen of England, she was a noted patron of the arts and music and took a personal interest in the education of her stepchildren, Princesses Mary and Elizabeth and Prince Edward. Above all, Parr commands interest for her literary labors: she was the first woman to publish under her own name in English in England. This book has assembled the four publications attributed to Parr—Psalms or Prayers, Prayers or Meditations, The Lamentation of a Sinner, and a compilation of prayers and Biblical excerpts written in her hand—as well as her extensive correspondence, which is collected here for the first time. The book brings to this volume a wealth of knowledge of sixteenth-century English culture. It marshals the impeccable skills of a textual scholar in rendering Parr's sixteenth-century English for modern readers and provides useful background on the circumstances of and references in Parr's letters and compositions.Less

Memoirs

Marie Mancini and Hortense Mancini

The memoirs of Hortense (1646–1699) and of Marie (1639–1715) Mancini, nieces of the powerful Cardinal Mazarin and members of the court of Louis XIV, represent the earliest examples in France of ... More

The memoirs of Hortense (1646–1699) and of Marie (1639–1715) Mancini, nieces of the powerful Cardinal Mazarin and members of the court of Louis XIV, represent the earliest examples in France of memoirs published by women under their own names during their lifetimes. Both unhappily married—Marie had also fled the aftermath of her failed affair with the king—the sisters chose to leave their husbands for life on the road, a life quite rare for women of their day. Through their writings, the Mancinis sought to rehabilitate their reputations and reclaim the right to define their public images themselves, rather than leave the stories of their lives to the intrigues of the court—and to their disgruntled ex-husbands. First translated in 1676 and 1678 and credited largely to male redactors, the two memoirs reemerge here in an English translation that chronicles the beginnings of women's rights to personal independence within the confines of an otherwise circumscribed early modern aristocratic society.Less

Memoirs of the Life of Henriette-Sylvie De Molière : A Novel

Madame de Villedieu

Known as Madame de Villedieu, Marie-Catherine Desjardins (ca. 1640–1683) was a prolific writer who played an important role in the evolution of the early modern French novel. One of the earliest ... More

Known as Madame de Villedieu, Marie-Catherine Desjardins (ca. 1640–1683) was a prolific writer who played an important role in the evolution of the early modern French novel. One of the earliest women to write for a living, she defied cultural convention by becoming an innovator and appealing to popular tastes through fiction, drama, and poetry. This book, a semi-autobiographical novel, portrays an enterprising woman who writes the story of her life, a complex tale that runs counter to social expectations and novelistic conventions. The story skillfully mixes real events from the author's life with fictional adventures.Less

A Rule for Children and Other Writings

Jacqueline Pascal

Jacqueline Pascal (1625–1661) was the sister of Blaise Pascal and a nun at the Jansenist Port–Royal convent in France. She was also a prolific writer who argued for the spiritual rights of women and ... More

Jacqueline Pascal (1625–1661) was the sister of Blaise Pascal and a nun at the Jansenist Port–Royal convent in France. She was also a prolific writer who argued for the spiritual rights of women and the right of conscientious objection to royal, ecclesiastic, and family authority. This book presents selections from the whole of Pascal's career as a writer, including her witty adolescent poetry and her pioneering treatise on the education of women, A Rule for Children, which drew on her experiences as schoolmistress at Port–Royal. Readers will also find Pascal's devotional treatise, which matched each moment in Christ's Passion with a corresponding virtue that his female disciples should cultivate; a transcript of her interrogation by church authorities, in which she defended the controversial theological doctrines taught at Port–Royal; a biographical sketch of her abbess, which presented Pascal's conception of the ideal nun; and a selection of letters offering spirited defenses of Pascal's right to practice her vocation, regardless of patriarchal objections.Less

Selected Letters, Orations, and Rhetorical Dialogues

Madeleine de Scudery

Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) was the most popular novelist in her time, read in French in volume installments all over Europe and translated into English, German, Italian, and even Arabic. But ... More

Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) was the most popular novelist in her time, read in French in volume installments all over Europe and translated into English, German, Italian, and even Arabic. But she was also a charismatic figure in French salon culture, a woman who supported herself through her writing and defended women's education. She was the first woman to be honored by the French Academy, and she earned a pension from Louis XIV for her writing. This book is a careful selection of Scudéry's shorter writings, emphasizing her abilities as a rhetorical theorist, orator, essayist, and letter writer. It provides English translations of some of Scudéry's Amorous Letters, only recently identified as her work, as well as selections from her Famous Women, or Heroic Speeches, and her series of Conversations.Less

Selected Writings of an Eighteenth-Century Venetian Woman of Letters

Elisabetta Caminer Turra

Elisabetta Caminer Turra (1751–96) was one of the most prominent women in eighteenth-century Italy and a central figure in the international “Republic of Letters.” A journalist and publisher, Caminer ... More

Elisabetta Caminer Turra (1751–96) was one of the most prominent women in eighteenth-century Italy and a central figure in the international “Republic of Letters.” A journalist and publisher, Caminer participated in important debates on capital punishment, freedom of the press, and the abuse of clerical power. She also helped spread Enlightenment ideas into Italy by promoting and publishing Voltaire's latest works and translating new European plays—plays she herself directed, to great applause, on Venetian stages. Bringing together Caminer's letters, poems, and journalistic writings, this book offers readers an intellectual biography of this remarkable figure as well as a glimpse into her intimate correspondence with the most prominent thinkers of her day. But more importantly, it provides insight into the passion that animated Caminer's fervent reflections on the complex and shifting condition of women in her society—the same passion that pushed her to succeed in the male-dominated literary professions.Less

The Story of Sapho

Madeleine de Scudery

Ridiculed for her Saturday salon, her long romance novels, and her protofeminist ideas, Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) has not been treated kindly by the literary establishment. Yet her multivolume ... More

Ridiculed for her Saturday salon, her long romance novels, and her protofeminist ideas, Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701) has not been treated kindly by the literary establishment. Yet her multivolume novels were popular bestsellers in her time, translated almost immediately into English, German, Italian, Spanish, and even Arabic. This book makes available in modern English a self-contained section from Scudéry's novel Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus, best known today as the favored reading material of the would-be salonnières that Molière satirized in Les précieuses ridicules. It tells of Sapho, a woman writer modeled on the Greek Sappho, who deems marriage slavery. Interspersed in the love story of Sapho and Phaon are a series of conversations like those that took place in Scudéry's own salon in which Sapho and her circle discuss the nature of love, the education of women, writing, and right conduct. This edition also includes a translation of an oration, or harangue, of Scudéry's in which Sapho extols the talents and abilities of women in order to persuade them to write.Less

Three Cartesian Feminist Treatises

Francois Poullain de la Barre

One of the most radical feminist theorists in Europe before the nineteenth century, François Poullain de la Barre (1647–1723) was a man way ahead of his time. Applying Cartesian principles to “the ... More

One of the most radical feminist theorists in Europe before the nineteenth century, François Poullain de la Barre (1647–1723) was a man way ahead of his time. Applying Cartesian principles to “the Woman Question,” he demonstrated by rational deduction that the supposedly “self-evident” inequality of the sexes was nothing more than unfounded prejudice. Poullain published three books (anonymously) on this topic in the 1670s, all of which are included in English translation in this volume. In On the Equality of the Two Sexes, he argued that the supposedly “natural” inferiority of women was culturally produced. To help women recognize and combat this prejudice, Poullain advocated a modern, enlightened feminine education in On the Education of Ladies. Finally, since his contemporaries largely ignored his writings, Poullain offered a rebuttal to his own arguments in On the Excellence of Men—one which he promptly countered, strengthening his original positions. A truly modern feminist, Poullain laid the intellectual groundwork for the women's liberation movement centuries before it happened.Less

Who Is Mary?: Three Early Modern Women on the Idea of the Virgin Mary

Vittoria Colonna, Chiara Matraini, and Lucrezia Marinella

For women of the Italian Renaissance, the Virgin Mary was one of the most important role models. This book presents devotional works written by three women better known for their secular writings: ... More

For women of the Italian Renaissance, the Virgin Mary was one of the most important role models. This book presents devotional works written by three women better known for their secular writings: Vittoria Colonna, famed for her Petrarchan lyric verse; Chiara Matraini, one of the most original poets of her generation; and the wide-ranging, intellectually ambitious polemicist Lucrezia Marinella. At a time when the cult of the Virgin was undergoing a substantial process of redefinition, these texts cast fascinating light on the beliefs of Catholic women in the Renaissance, and also, in the cases of Matraini and Marinella, on contemporaneous women's social behavior, prescribed for them by male writers in books on female decorum. This book testifies to the emotional and spiritual relationships that women had with the figure of Mary, whom they were required to emulate as the epitome of femininity. Now available for the first time in English-language translation, these writings suggest new possibilities for women in both religious and civil culture and provide a window to women's spirituality, concerning the most important icon set before them, as wives, mothers, and Christians.Less

Zayde: A Spanish Romance

Marie-Madeleine Lafayette

Standing at the critical juncture between traditional romance and early novelistic realism, Zayde is both the swan song of a literary tradition nearly two thousand years old and a harbinger of the ... More

Standing at the critical juncture between traditional romance and early novelistic realism, Zayde is both the swan song of a literary tradition nearly two thousand years old and a harbinger of the modern psychological novel. It unfolds during the long medieval struggle between Christians and Muslims for control of the Iberian Peninsula; Madame de Lafayette (1634–93) takes the reader on a Mediterranean tour typical of classical and seventeenth-century romances—from Catalonia to Cyprus and back again—with battles, prophecies, and shipwrecks dotting the crisscrossed paths of the book's noble lovers. But where romance was long and episodic, Zayde possesses a magisterial architecture of suspense. Chaste and faithful heroines and heroes are replaced here by characters who are consumed by jealousy and unable to love happily. And, unlike in traditional romance, the reader is no longer simply expected to admire deeds of bravery and virtue, but instead is caught up in intense first-person testimony on the psychology of desire. Unavailable in English for more than two centuries, Zayde reemerges here in translation as a worthy representative of a once popular genre.Less