9780674003477: Famous Women (The I Tatti Renaissance Library 1)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0674003470 ISBN 13: 9780674003477
Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2001

Synopsis

After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch’s humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them is Famous Women, the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women.

The 106 women whose life stories make up this volume range from the exemplary to the notorious, from historical and mythological figures to Renaissance contemporaries. In the hands of a master storyteller, these brief biographies afford a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women were beginning to give way to more modern views of their potential.

Famous Women, which Boccaccio continued to revise and expand until the end of his life, became one of the most popular works in the last age of the manuscript book, and had a signal influence on many literary works, including Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Castiglione’s Courtier. This edition presents the first English translation based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.

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About the Author

Virginia Brown is Senior Fellow, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto.

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Publisher
Harvard University Press
Publication date
2001
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0674003470
ISBN 13 
9780674003477
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
560

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780674011304: Famous Women (The I Tatti Renaissance Library 1)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0674011309 ISBN 13:  9780674011304
Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2003
Softcover