Marriage Wars in Late Renaissance Venice (Studies in the History of Sexuality) - Softcover

Ferraro, Joanne M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195144961 ISBN 13: 9780195144963

Publisher: Oxford University Press USA, 2001

Synopsis

Based on a fascinating body of previously unexamined archival material, this book brings to life the lost voices of ordinary Venetians during the age of Catholic revival. Looking at scripts that were brought to the city's ecclesiastical courts by spouses seeking to annul their marriage vows, this book opens up the emotional world of intimacy and conflict, sexuality, and living arrangments that did not fit normative models of marriage.

About this title

Review:

Ferraro has unearthed a fascinating group of stories and analyzed them with finesse. Her entire text is further enriched by the sense of humour she imparts to all her material. (Journal of Modern History)

This is an interesting study of an important Venetian institution, and of marriage in Catholic Europe after Trent. The author's exploration of what she calls 'court stories' also represents an invaluable contribution to current debates about the reading and meaning of historical documentation, or 'texts'. (History)

Ferraro's inclusion of gossip, gambling, dirty laundry, gift exchange and flirtatious dalliances takes us much closer to the principal concerns of Venetians in an age of Catholic reform. (Patricia Allerston, Times Literary Supplement)

A major contribution is made to the understanding of the personal lives and attitudes of Venetians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. (RIVISTA, The Journal of the British-Italian Society)

Highly serious and scholarly work. (RIVISTA, The Journal of the British-Italian Society)

About the Author:

San Diego State University

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0195144961
• ISBN 13: 9780195144963
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240