Genealogies of fiction
Subtitle: women warriors and the dynastic imagination in the Orlando furioso
By: Eleonora Stoppino
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780823240371
Subjects: Amazons in literature; Genealogy in literature; Characters; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies; Sex role in literature; Intertextuality; LITERARY CRITICISM / European / Italian; Sources; LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval; Women in literature; Women
Description: "Genealogies of Fiction is a study of gender, dynastic politics, and intertextuality in medieval and Renaissance chivalric epic, focused on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso. Relying on the direct study of manuscripts and incunabula, this project challenges the fixed distinction between medieval and early modern texts and reclaims medieval popular epic as a key source for the Furioso.  Tracing the formation of the character of the warrior woman, from the amazon to Bradamante, the book analyzes the process of gender construction in early modern Italy. By reading the tension between the representations of women as fighters, lovers, and mothers, this study shows how the warrior woman is a symbolic center for the construction of legitimacy in the complex web of fears and expectations of the Northern Italian Renaissance court"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.