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Writing Gender in Women's Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance (Toronto Italian Studies) - Hardcover

Ray, Meredith K

 
9780802097040: Writing Gender in Women's Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance (Toronto Italian Studies)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0802097049 ISBN 13: 9780802097040
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2009

Synopsis

During the Italian Renaissance, dozens of early modern writers published collections of private correspondence, using them as vehicles for self-presentation, self-promotion, social critique, and religious dissent. Writing Gender in Women's Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance examines the letter collections of women writers, arguing that these works were a studied performance of pervasive ideas about gender as well as genre, a form of self-fashioning that variously reflected, manipulated, and subverted cultural and literary conventions regarding femininity and masculinity.

Meredith K. Ray presents letter collections from authors of diverse backgrounds, including a noblewoman, a courtesan, an actress, a nun, and a male writer who composed letters under female pseudonyms. Ray's study includes extensive new archival research and highlights a widespread interest in women's letter collections during the Italian Renaissance that suggests a deep curiosity about the female experience and a surprising openness to women's participation in this kind of literary production.

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About the Author

Meredith K. Ray is an assistant professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Delaware.

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Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Publication date
2009
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0802097049
ISBN 13 
9780802097040
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
304