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The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena
Konrad Eisenbichler
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Description for The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena
Paperback. Num Pages: 400 pages. BIC Classification: 1DST; 2ADT; 3JD; DSBD; DSC; HBJD; HBLH; HBTB; JFSJ1. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 229 x 152 x 23. Weight in Grams: 544.
In The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena, Konrad Eisenbichler analyzes the work of Sienese women poets, in particular, Aurelia Petrucci, Laudomia Forteguerri, and Virginia Salvi, during the first half of the sixteenth century up to the fall of Siena in 1555. Eisenbichler sets forth a complex and original interpretation of the experiences of these three educated noblewomen and their contributions to contemporary culture in Siena by looking at the emergence of a new lyric tradition and the sonnets they exchanged among themselves and with their male contemporaries. Through the analysis of their poems and ... Read morevarious book dedications to them, Eisenbichler reveals the intersection of poetry, politics, and sexuality, as well as the gendered dialogue that characterized Siena's literary environment during the late Renaissance. Eisenbichler also examines other little-known women poets and their relationship to the cultural environment of Siena, underlining the exceptional role of the city of Siena as the most important center of women's writing in the first half of the sixteenth century in Italy, and probably in all of Europe.
This innovative contribution to the field of late Renaissance and early modern Italian and women's studies rescues from near oblivion a group of literate women who were celebrated by contemporary scholars but who have been largely ignored today, both because of a dearth of biographical information about them and because of a narrow evaluation of their poetry. Eisenbichler's analysis and reproduction of many of their poems in Italian and modern English translation are an invaluable contribution not only to Italian cultural studies but also to women's studies.
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Product Details
Publisher
University of Notre Dame Press
Place of Publication
Notre Dame IN, United States
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Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
About Konrad Eisenbichler
Konrad Eisenbichler is professor of Renaissance and Italian studies at the University of Toronto. He is the author, translator, and editor of seventeen books, including The Renaissance in the Streets, Schools, and Studies, and Renaissance Medievalisms.
Reviews for The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-Century Siena
“Konrad Eisenbichler presents a sustained investigation of key female protagonists in sixteenth-century Siena’s literary culture. A key strength of this work is its careful analysis of three Sienese [women:] Aurelia Petrucci, Laudomia Forteguerri, and Virginia Martini Salvi. . . . Fine translations are followed by the original citations and Eisenbichler contextualizes his literary analysis with an impressive range of archival ... Read moreresearch.” —Parergon “Through nuanced renderings and interpretations of their poetry, poems written about them, and works dedicated to them, as well as biographical reconstructions drawn from his meticulous archival research, Eisenbichler fills lacunae, corrects errors, and uncovers his protagonists’ roles in and commentary upon their afflicted city and era . . . . This engagingly written and primary-source-rich study offers much to readers interested in Renaissance studies, Italian literature, and women’s and gender history.” —The Historian Painstakingly researched and well-argued throughout, The Sword and the Pen offers us case studies centered on Siena, showing that the silence enjoined on early modern women was a fiction for at least a literate subset of the population, who wrote not only about love but on politics. . . . this volume will become necessary reading for any scholar working on Italian early modernity, women writers, and cultural history.” —Early Modern Women Journal “. . . Eisenbichler has authored a book which breaks new ground, suggests new readings of texts and places a number of Italian language texts into the hands of English language readers for the first time. . . . The book is well worth the read and the academic community will be well served through this important contribution.” —Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies “Eisenbichler makes a compelling case for the unique aspects of women’s participation in sixteenth-century Siena’s literary networks. His book offers an enticing panorama of literary culture, where men and women of noble families wrote to each other, provoked one another, and built up each other’s reputations in the final years of the Republic of Siena.” —European History Quarterly “Our knowledge of how gender functions on many levels during the Renaissance has been greatly enhanced by Eisenbichler’s work. The inclusion of sonnets and poems composed by several other Sienese women, and their excellent translations, raises many more questions than it answers on the history of gender in Italy—which is Eisenbichler’s goal. A job well done.” —Renaissance and Reformation “This book is an excellent combination of historical and literary analysis. Confronted with a frustrating dearth of information on these women, The Sword and the Pen combines painstaking archival research, a careful analysis of biographical material, and a consideration of the women’s own works to sketch their family ties, their intellectual networks, and the details of their lives.” —Sixteenth Century Journal “Eisenbichler brings to his study of Aurelia Petrucci, Laudomia Forteguerri, and Virginia Martini Salvi the deep understanding of Renaissance culture, the confident mastery of archival and manuscript material, the keen eye for revelatory detail, and the lucid expository style that have distinguished his many previous publications. The result is a book that both increases the reader’s knowledge of particular writers in a particular time and place and shows how such particularities can be used to advance understanding of an entire society and its literary culture.” —Choice “Eisenbichler not only provides an analysis of the poetry of these women [Aurelia Petrucci, Laudomia Forteguerri, and Virginia Salvi] but also book dedications to them, revealing an intersection of poetry, politics, and sexuality. He has rescued their poetry from the narrow confines of interpretation . . . [and] contributed greatly to our knowledge of women’s thinking and writing.” —Magistra “As if holding a diamond in the twilight, Eisenbichler examines each facet of [these women’s] lives, including intellectual friendships, heresy, political intrigue, and even a lesbian romance. . . . The Sword and the Pen is a major contribution to our understanding of female poets in the Renaissance and the glittering cultural climate of a proud but doomed city.” —Renaissance Quarterly Show Less
