Marguerite de Navarre's Shifting Gaze: Perspectives on gender, class, and politics in the Heptaméron (Women and Gender in the Early Modern World)

Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 List of abbreviations 9 1 Introduction 10 2 Between life and literature: the many faces of Marguerite de Navarre 38 Preliminary considerations: questions of gender, periodization, and theory 39 Genealogy, genes, and gender: the making of a princess 42 Serving god and the king: Marguerite’s religious and political development 49 Family matters: one body, one spirit, one faith 53 The gathering storm: l’affaire des placards and its aftermath 55 Marguerite’s many loves: weighing and balancing multiple loyalties 58 Tribulations and triumphs: Marguerite’s final years 61 3 Gender and patriarchy: a many-sided view 74 Contexts and intertexts: rewriting and responding to male discourse 75 Female icons, exempla, and real women: alternative standpoints 81 Gendered violence and vice: making sense of “he said, she said” 105 Respectability and its double: the underside of male power and piety 120 The insides and outsides of patriarchy: beyond and beneath sexual difference and gender stereotypes 124 Re-viewing marriage and infidelity: coping with an “estate of long duration” 132 4 Upstairs, downstairs: the dynamics of class and rank in the Heptaméron 157 A view from the top: looking down at the lower classes 158 Cruel masters and abuses of high rank 171 Excavating the underside of power and privilege: “les choses basses” as vehicles of revelation 179 5 Power, politics, and modes of governance in the Heptaméron 193 The education of a Christian prince: positive models of governance and community 194 “When malice is joined with power”: evil leaders, abuses of authority, and ethical dilemmas 206 Reading between the lines: political allegory and metonymy in the Heptaméron 220 Conclusion 255 Selected bibliography 260 Index 270 Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron, composed in the 1540s and first published posthumously in 1558 and 1559, has long been an interpretive puzzle. De Navarre (1492-1549), sister of King Francis I of France, was a controversial figure in her lifetime. Her evangelical activities and proximity to the Crown placed her at the epicenter of her country's internecine strife and societal unrest. Yet her short stories appear to offer few traces of the sociopolitical turbulence that surrounded her. In Marguerite de Navarre's Shifting Gaze, however, Elizabeth Zegura argues that the Heptaméron's innocuous appearance camouflages its serious insights into patriarchy and gender, social class, and early modern French politics, which emerge from an analysis of the text's shifting perspectives. Zegura's approach, which focuses on visual cues and alternative standpoints and viewing positions within the text, hinges upon foregrounding "les choses basses" (lowly things) to which the devisante (storyteller) Oisille draws our attention in nouvelle (novella) 2 of the Heptaméron, using this downward, archaeological gaze to excavate layers of the text that merit more extensive critical attention. While her conclusions cast a new light on the literature, life, and times of Marguerite de Navarre, they are nevertheless closely aligned with recent scholarship on this important historical and literary figure. -- From publisher's website Marguerite de Navarres Heptamron, composed in the 1540s and first published posthumously in 1558 and 1559, has long been an interpretive puzzle. De Navarre (1492-1549), sister of King Francis I of France, was a controversial figure in her lifetime. Her evangelical activities and proximity to the Crown placed her at the epicenter of her countrys internecine strife and societal unrest. Yet her short stories appear to offer few traces of the sociopolitical turbulence that surrounded her.In Marguerite de Navarres Shifting Gaze , however, Elizabeth Zegura argues that the Heptamron s innocuous appearance camouflages its serious insights into patriarchy and gender, social class, and early modern French politics, which emerge from an analysis of the texts shifting perspectives. Zeguras approach, which focuses on visual cues and alternative standpoints and viewing positions within the text, hinges upon foregrounding "les choses basses" (lowly things) to which the devisante (storyteller) Oisille draws our attention in nouvelle (novella) 2 of the Heptamron , using this downward, archaeological gaze to excavate layers of the text that merit more extensive critical attention.While her conclusions cast a new light on the literature, life, and times of Marguerite de Navarre, they are nevertheless closely aligned with recent scholarship on this important historical and literary figure.