Famous Women by Giovanni Boccaccio
The first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women, Famous Women affords a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women were beginning to give way to more modern views of their potential. Virginia Brown's acclaimed translation, commissioned for The I Tatti Renaissance Library, is the first English edition based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.
In a pungent new translation by Virginia Brown, [Boccaccio's] famous women hold up very well indeed..The success of Famous Women suggests that [Renaissance] ladies read their Boccaccio as we are invited to read him: with forbearance for his foibles and delight in the tales he tells with such gusto and skill. -- Ingrid D. Rowland * New York Times Book Review *
For good or evil, as wife, mother, or whore, these women have the splendor of clarity; their individual destinies are sharply defined. -- Tim Parks * New York Review of Books *
Whatever his intentions--and it may be that feminism was a long-term outgrowth of the humanism that he pioneered--Boccaccio launched a lasting genre that urged women, as well as men, to reach for glory, and gave them examples to live by. -- David Quint * The New Republic *
For good or evil, as wife, mother, or whore, these women have the splendor of clarity; their individual destinies are sharply defined. -- Tim Parks * New York Review of Books *
Whatever his intentions--and it may be that feminism was a long-term outgrowth of the humanism that he pioneered--Boccaccio launched a lasting genre that urged women, as well as men, to reach for glory, and gave them examples to live by. -- David Quint * The New Republic *
Virginia Brown is Senior Fellow, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674011304 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674011309 |
| Title | Famous Women |
| Author | Giovanni Boccaccio |
| Series | The I Tatti Renaissance Library |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 2003-04-30 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |