Petrarch was Italy's second most famous writer (after Dante), and indeed from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries he was much better known and more influential in English literature than Dante. His Italian love lyrics constituted the major influence on European love poetry for at least two centuries from 1400 to 1600, and in Britain he was imitated by Chaucer, the Elizabethans, and other lyric poets up until the end of the eighteenth century. With Romanticism Dante ousted Petrarch from his pre-eminent position, but in our post-Romantic age, attention has now started to swing back to...
Petrarch was Italy's second most famous writer (after Dante), and indeed from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries he was much better known and m...
A gifted poet, a women's rights activist, and an expert on moral and natural philosophy, Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was known throughout Italy as the leading female intellectual of her age. Born into a family of Venetian physicians, she was encouraged to study, and, fortunately, she did not share the fate of many of her female contemporaries, who were forced to join convents or were pressured to marry early. Marinella enjoyed a long literary career, writing mainly religious, epic, and pastoral poetry, and biographies of famous women in both verse and prose. Marinella's masterpiece,...
A gifted poet, a women's rights activist, and an expert on moral and natural philosophy, Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was known throughout Italy as ...
Arcangela Tarabotti (1604-52) was forced into a Benedictine convent at sixteen by her father. This manifesto argues against the oppression of women by the Venetian patriarchy. Through readings of the Bible Tarabotti demonstrates that women are clearly equal in God's eyes.
Arcangela Tarabotti (1604-52) was forced into a Benedictine convent at sixteen by her father. This manifesto argues against the oppression of women by...
This volume offers a comprehensive historical account of writing by women in Italy. Covering writing from the Middle Ages to the present day, it moves away from narrow definitions of literature, and brings to light other forms of expression such as letter writing, religious and devotional writing, travel writing, and journalism. Contributors point to the considerable practical, social and ideological difficulties faced by women in writing and presenting their work to a wider reading public, but also highlight the determination of women through the centuries in making their voices heard.
This volume offers a comprehensive historical account of writing by women in Italy. Covering writing from the Middle Ages to the present day, it moves...
