Amorous Hope, A Pastoral Play: A Bilingual Edition (Volume 83) (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series)

A seventeenth-century play showing the reality of life for women. Valeria Miani’s Amorous Hope is a play of remarkable richness, subtlety, and verve. It presents a scathing exposure of society’s double-standards and it champions women’s dramatic agency by centering on the bleak reality they often faced, a reality that attempted to harm and silence its victims. The play’s salient episodes reflect realities modern women still face today. Miani’s literary achievements attest to her emergence as a cultural protagonist alongside Europe’s most talented women writers, such as Isabella Andreini, and she challenged the premodern notion that a woman’s eloquence is an indication of her sexual promiscuity. Cover 1 Recent Publications in the Series 4 Title Page 6 Dedication 8 Contents 10 Acknowlegments 12 Illustrations 14 Introduction 16 The Other Voice 16 Life, Works, and Afterlife of Valeria Miani 20 The Ricovrati of Padua 27 The Ricovrati on the Education of Women 33 Miani among the “Illustrious and Famous Poets of Italy” 38 Miani’s Madrigal in Paolo Bozi’s Vita, attioni, miracoli (1614) 59 Miani’s Amorosa speranza and Female-Authored Pastoral Drama 62 Amorosa speranza: Structure and Themes 65 Note on the Italian Text 87 Note on the Transcription 88 Note on the Translation 89 Amorosa speranza / Amorous Hope 90 Notes to the Italian Text 339 Notes to the Italian Text 342 Appendix 362 Selections from Polinnia 362 Selections from Gareggiamento poetico, Le Lodi (Part Four) 368 Bibliography 370 Index 380