The Renaissance Notion of Woman

The Renaissance Notion of Woman PDF Author: Ian Maclean
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521274364
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This monograph, dealing with the intellectual notions held during the Renaissance of what "woman" is, surveys the ideas of the nature of woman, sex difference and sex discrimination, and the emergence of a feminist movement in the first half of the 17th century.

The Renaissance Notion of Woman

The Renaissance Notion of Woman PDF Author: Ian Maclean
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521274364
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description
This monograph, dealing with the intellectual notions held during the Renaissance of what "woman" is, surveys the ideas of the nature of woman, sex difference and sex discrimination, and the emergence of a feminist movement in the first half of the 17th century.

Women and Literature in Britain, 1500-1700

Women and Literature in Britain, 1500-1700 PDF Author: Helen Wilcox
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521467773
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
First comprehensive introduction to women's role in, and access to, literary culture in early modern Britain.

Da Vinci's Tiger

Da Vinci's Tiger PDF Author: L. M. Elliott
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062231715
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
For fans of rich and vivid historical novels like Girl with a Pearl Earring and Code Name Verity, Laura Malone Elliott delivers the stunning tale of real-life Renaissance woman Ginevra de' Benci, the inspiration for one of Leonardo da Vinci's earliest masterpieces. The young and beautiful daughter of a wealthy family, Ginevra longs to share her poetry and participate in the artistic ferment of Renaissance Florence but is trapped in an arranged marriage in a society dictated by men. The arrival of the charismatic Venetian ambassador, Bernardo Bembo, introduces Ginevra to a dazzling circle of patrons, artists, and philosophers. Bembo chooses Ginevra as his Platonic muse and commissions a portrait of her by a young Leonardo da Vinci. Posing for the brilliant painter inspires an intimate connection between them, one Ginevra only begins to understand. In a rich and vivid world of exquisite art with a dangerous underbelly of deadly political feuds, Ginevra faces many challenges to discover her voice and artistic companionship—and to find love.

Invention of the Renaissance Woman

Invention of the Renaissance Woman PDF Author: Pamela Joseph Benson
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271042121
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
During the Renaissance the nature of womankind was a major topic of debate. Numerous dialogues, defenses, paradoxes, and tributes devoted to sustaining woman's excellence were published, and in them history was rewritten to include the achievements of womankind. Often these texts demonstrate that women are capable of acting with prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, and thus are capable of being independent of male political and moral authority. Pamela Benson argues that the writers use literary means (genre, characterization, narrator, paradox, plot) to defeat the political challenge posed by female independence and to restrain women within a traditional role. The Invention of the Renaissance Woman is a study of the literary strategies used both to create the notion of the independent woman and to restrain her. Traditionally, the profeminism of most of these texts has not been taken seriously because their playful or extreme styles have been read as a sign that they were nothing but a game. Benson demonstrates that the flamboyant and frequently paradoxical style of these texts is the key to their successful profeminism. She defines the literary and conceptual differences between the Italian and English traditions and argues that two of the greatest literary works of the Renaissance, the Orlando furioso and The Faerie Queene, are major texts in the tradition of defense and praise of women. The Inventions of the Renaissance Women is the first substantial contextual discussion of the majority of the Italian texts and many of the English ones. Benson uses the insights of feminist theory and of cultural studies without subordinating the Renaissance texts to a modern political agenda. Among the authors discussed are Spenser, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Castiglione, Vespasiano da Bisticci, Thomas More, Thomas Elyot, Juan Luis Vives, Richard Hyrde, Jane Anger, and Henry Howard.

Renaissance Feminism

Renaissance Feminism PDF Author: Constance Jordan
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501721844
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Considering a wide range of Renaissance works of nonfiction, Jordan asserts that feminism as a mode of thought emerged as early as the fifteenth century in Italy, and that the main arguments for the social equality of the sexes were common in the sixteenth century. Renaissance feminism, she maintains, was a feature of a broadly revisionist movement that regarded the medieval model of creation as static and hierarchical and favored a model that was dynamic and relational. Jordan examines pro-woman arguments found in dozens of pan-European texts in the light of present-day notions of authority and subordination, particularly resistance theory, in an attempt to link gender issues to larger contemporary theoretical and institutional questions. Drawing on sources as varied as treatises on marriage and on education, defenses and histories of women, popular satires, moral dialogues, and romances, Renaissance Feminism illustrates the broad scope of feminist argument in early modern Europe, recovering prowoman arguments that had disappeared from the record of gender debates and transforming the ways in which early modern gender ideology has been understood. Renaissance scholars and feminist critics and historians in general will welcome this book, and medievalists and intellectual historians will also find it valuable reading.

Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex

Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex PDF Author: Henricus Cornelius Agrippa
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226010600
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 143

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Book Description
Originally published in 1529, the Declamation on the Preeminence and Nobility of the Female Sex argues that women are more than equal to men in all things that really matter, including the public spheres from which they had long been excluded. Rather than directly refuting prevailing wisdom, Agrippa uses women's superiority as a rhetorical device and overturns the misogynistic interpretations of the female body in Greek medicine, in the Bible, in Roman and canon law, in theology and moral philosophy, and in politics. He raised the question of why women were excluded and provided answers based not on sex but on social conditioning, education, and the prejudices of their more powerful oppressors. His declamation, disseminated through the printing press, illustrated the power of that new medium, soon to be used to generate a larger reformation of religion.

The Concept of Woman

The Concept of Woman PDF Author: Prudence Allen
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802833464
Category : Femininity (Philosophy)
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description
The culmination of a lifetime's scholarly work, this pioneering study by Sister Prudence Allen traces the concept of woman in relation to man in Western thought from ancient times to the present. Volume I uncovers four general categories of questions asked by philosophers for two thousand years. These are the categories of opposites, of generation, of wisdom, and of virtue. Sister Prudence Allen traces several recurring strands of sexual and gender identity within this period. Ultimately, she shows the paradoxical influence of Aristotle on the question of woman and on a philosophical understanding of sexual coomplemenarity. Supplemented throughout with helpful charts, diagrams, and illustrations, this volume will be an important resource for scholars and students in the fields of women's studies, philosophy, history, theology, literary studies, and political science. In Volume 2, Sister Prudence Allen explores claims about sex and gender identity in the works of over fifty philosophers (both men and women) in the late medieval and early Renaissance periods. Touching on the thought of every philosopher who considered sex or gender identity between A.D. 1250 and 1500, The Concept of Woman provides the analytical categories necessary for situating contemporary discussion of women in relation to men. Adding to the accessibility of this fine discussion are informative illustrations, helpful summary charts, and extracts of original source material (some not previously available in English). In her third and final volume Allen covers the years 1500--2015, continuing her chronological approach to individual authors and also offering systematic arguments to defend certain philosophical positions over against others.

The Female Body in Medicine and Literature

The Female Body in Medicine and Literature PDF Author: Andrew Mangham
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1846318521
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Drawing on a range of texts from the seventeenth century to the present, The Female Body in Medicine and Literature explores accounts of motherhood, fertility, and clinical procedures for what they have to tell us about the development of women's medicine. The essays here offer nuanced historical analyses of subjects that have received little critical attention, including the relationship between gynecology and psychology and the influence of popular art forms on so-called women's science prior to the twenty-first century. Taken together, these essays offer a wealth of insight into the medical treatment of women and will appeal to scholars in gender studies, literature, and the history of medicine.

Defining the Renaissance 'Virtuosa'

Defining the Renaissance 'Virtuosa' PDF Author: Fredrika H. Jacobs
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521572705
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Defining the Renaissance "Virtuosa" considers the language of art in relationship to the issues of gender difference through an examination of art criticism written between 1550 and 1800 on approximately forty women artists who were active in Renaissance Italy. Fredrika Jacobs demonstrates how these theoretical writings defined women artists, by linking artistic creation and biological procreation. Jacobs' study shows how deeply the biases of these early critics have inflected both subsequent reception of these Renaissance virtuose, as well as modern scholarship.

Cellini's Perseus and Medusa and the Loggia dei Lanzi

Cellini's Perseus and Medusa and the Loggia dei Lanzi PDF Author: Christine Corretti
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004296786
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus and Medusa, one of Renaissance Italy’s most complex sculptures, is the subject of this study, which proposes that the statue’s androgynous appearance is paradoxical. Symbolizing the male ruler overcoming a female adversary, the Perseus legitimizes patriarchal power; but the physical similarity between Cellini’s characters suggests the hero rose through female agency. Dr. Corretti argues that although not a surrogate for powerful Medici women, Cellini’s Medusa may have reminded viewers that Cosimo I de’ Medici’s power stemmed in part from maternal influence. Drawing upon a vast body of art and literature, Dr. Corretti concludes that Cellini and his contemporaries knew the Gorgon as a version of the Earth Mother, whose image is found in art for Medici women.