The Book of the City of Ladies
By: Christine de Pizan ; translated by Earl Jeffrey Richards ; foreword by Marina Warner.
Publisher: Persea Books
Published: 1982
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
Subjects: Feminism -- Early works to 1800.; Imaginary conversations.; Women -- Conduct of life -- Early works to 1800.; Women -- History -- Early works to 1800.
Work titles: Livre de la cité des dames.
Description: From the Introduction...

Although The Book of the City of Ladies was written more than half a millenium ago, it is filled with potent observations for our times. The querelle des femmes the woman question in late fourteenth- and fifteenth-century France—articulated its arguments in much the same way as today's debate about the equality of women. Here, in The Book of the City of Ladies, Christine intersperses her tales of formidable and exemplary heroines of the past with down-to-earth remarks about the wrongs done to women by society's attitudes and opinions. Her tone is not shrill, but forbearing; her comments trenchant; she never whines. She indicts men, Portia-like, from a position of superior benevolence, enacting the drama of women's greater moral qualities by refusing the line of violence or suppliant weakness. Christine de Pizan was born in a court and she was an adept of courtly ways; her strategy in her attack is courteous, and her courtesy, with its appearance of frankness, even artlessness, conceals a fair bit of cunning, and a deal of rage.
Notes: Translation of: Le livre de la cité des dames.  Includes bibliographical references and index.

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