Christine de Pizan and the Categories of Difference

Christine de Pizan, an Italian-born writer in French in the early 15th-century, composed lyric poetry, debate poetry, political biography and allegory. At times complicit, at times subversive, at times revisionary, her texts constantly negotiate the hierarchial and repressive discourses of late medieval court culture. How they do so is the focus of this volume, which places Christine's work in the context of larger discussions about medieval authorship, identity and categories of difference. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction: From Book-Lined Cell to Cyborg Hermeneutics 10 Part I: The Belly of the Monster 22 1. Christine de Pizan on the Art of Warfare 24 2. Christine’s Anxious Lessons: Gender, Morality, and the Social Order from the Enseignemens to the Avision 37 3. “Douleur sur toutes autres”: Revisualizing the Rape Script in the Epistre Othea and the Cité des dames 62 4. Christine de Pizan and the Authority of Experience 92 Part II: Situated Knowledges 110 5. “Perdre son latin”: Christine de Pizan and Vernacular Humanism 112 6. The Critique of Knowledge as Power: The Limits of Philosophy and Theology in Christine de Pizan 129 7. The Bath of the Muses and Visual Allegory in the Chemin de long estude 149 8. “Traittié tout de mençonges”: The Secrés des dames, “Trotula,” and Attitudes toward Women’s Medicine in Fourteenth- and Early-Fifteenth-Century France 167 Part III: Engendering Authorship 200 9. Transforming Ovid: The Metamorphosis of Female Authority 202 10. What Is a Patron? Benefactors and Authorship in Harley 4431, Christine de Pizan’s Collected Works 216 11. The Reconstruction of an Author in Print: Christine de Pizan in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 236 12. Arms and the Bride: Christine de Pizan’s Military Treatise as a Wedding Gift for Margaret of Anjou 257 Works Cited 278 Contributors 300 Index 302 A 302 B 302 C 302 D 304 E 304 F 304 G 304 H 304 I 304 J 304 K 305 L 305 M 305 N 305 O 305 P 306 Q 306 R 306 S 306 T 306 V 307 W 307 Y 307 Z 307 MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction: From Book-Lined Cell to Cyborg Hermeneutics 10 Part I: The Belly of the Monster 22 1. Christine de Pizan on the Art of Warfare 24 2. Christine’s Anxious Lessons: Gender, Morality, and the Social Order from the Enseignemens to the Avision 37 3. “Douleur sur toutes autres”: Revisualizing the Rape Script in the Epistre Othea and the Cité des dames 62 4. Christine de Pizan and the Authority of Experience 92 Part II: Situated Knowledges 110 5. “Perdre son latin”: Christine de Pizan and Vernacular Humanism 112 6. The Critique of Knowledge as Power: The Limits of Philosophy and Theology in Christine de Pizan 129 7. The Bath of the Muses and Visual Allegory in the Chemin de long estude 149 8. “Traittié tout de mençonges”: The Secrés des dames, “Trotula,” and Attitudes toward Women’s Medicine in Fourteenth- and Early-Fifteenth-Century France 167 Part III: Engendering Authorship 200 9. Transforming Ovid: The Metamorphosis of Female Authority 202 10. What Is a Patron? Benefactors and Authorship in Harley 4431, Christine de Pizan’s Collected Works 216 11. The Reconstruction of an Author in Print: Christine de Pizan in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 236 12. Arms and the Bride: Christine de Pizan’s Military Treatise as a Wedding Gift for Margaret of Anjou 257 Works Cited 278 Contributors 300 Index 302 A 302 B 302 C 302 D 304 E 304 F 304 G 304 H 304 I 304 J 304 K 305 L 305 M 305 N 305 O 305 P 306 Q 306 R 306 S 306 T 306 V 307 W 307 Y 307 Z 307 Christine de Pizan, an Italian-born writer in French in the early fifteenth century, composed lyric poetry, debate poetry, political biography, and allegory. At times complicit, at times subversive, at times revisionary, her texts constantly negotiate the hierarchical and repressive discourses of late medieval court culture. How they do so is the focus of this volume, which places Christine's work in the context of larger discussions about medieval authorship, identity, and categories of difference. Contributors from the fields of history, literature, legal theory, art history, and medieval studies offer a truly interdisciplinary perspective on the Christine corpus. Their essays address Christine's textual interventions into the discourses of warfare and rape, her anxiety about the efficacy of education, and her adoption of a vernacular prose style. The authors situate Christine's texts within medieval medical discourse, debates between theology and philosophy, the tradition of Ovidian discourse, and the iconography of late medieval manuscript culture. They also explore the ways in which her work was shaped by institutional patronage, by its reception in early print culture, and by later compilation. Establishing Christine de Pizan's corpus as part of the legacy of critical feminist discourse, this volume ultimately demonstrates the great value of premodern textual cultures for postmodern accounts of difference. Contributors: Michel-André Bossy, Brown U; Cynthia J. Brown, U of California, Santa Barbara; Mary Anne C. Case, U of Virginia; Thelma Fenster, Fordham U; Mary Weitzel Gibbons; Monica H. Green, Duke U; Judith L. Kellogg, U of Hawaii, Manoa; Roberta Krueger, Hamilton College; Deborah McGrady, Western Michigan U; Benjamin M. Semple, Yale U; Charity Cannon Willard; Diane Wolfthal, Arizona State U. Places Christine de Pizan’s work in the context of larger discussions about medieval authorship, identity, and categories of difference. Here, contributors from the fields of history, literature, legal theory, art history, and medieval studies offer a truly interdisciplinary perspective on the Christine corpus. Contributors: Michel-André Bossy, Cynthia J. Brown, Mary Anne C. Case, Thelma Fenster, Mary Weitzel Gibbons, Monica H. Green, Judith L. Kellogg, Roberta Krueger, Deborah McGrady, Benjamin M. Semple, Charity Cannon Willard, and Diane Wolfthal Christine de Pizan, an Italian-born writer in French in the early 15th century, composed lyric poetry, debate poetry, political biography, and allegory. Her texts constantly negotiate the hierarchical and repressive discourses of late medieval court culture. How they do so is the focus of this volume, which places Christine's work in the context of larger discussions about medieval authorship, identity, and categories of difference. This work looks at how Christine de Pizan's texts constantly negotiate the hierarchial and repressive discourses of late medieval court culture. It places Christine's work in the context of larger discussions about medieval authorship, identity and categories of difference.