Poetry. Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Italian by Joan E. Borrelli with Natalia Costa-Zalessow. Edited by Natalia Costa-Zalessow. "In her Rime (1627-28), Francesca Turini Bufalini included a series of sonnets under the subtitle 'Principio dello stato dell'autrice.' These poems are unique for their truly autobiographical nature, openly declared as such by the author herself. None of the European women poets preceding her, or any of her contemporaries, recorded their lives with such precision. In these sonnets, Turini Bufalini gives us a detailed description of her life, from childhood...

Poetry. Women's Studies. Translated from the Italian by Joan E. Borrelli. Bilingual Edition. Feminist, courtesan, playwright and a renowned virtuosa (soloist vocal performer) called to sing before Roman nobility and the courts of Florence and Paris, Margherita Costa is, moreover, the most Baroque of the Italian women poets of the seventeenth century. A prolific writer, she published six volumes of poetry, two prose works, three plays, two narrative poems, and a pageant in verse for knights on horseback. As a poet, she employs a variety of genres, using humor and irony to criticize prevailing...