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Title: The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan, Jeffrey Richards, Christine ISBN: 0-89255-230-1 Publisher: Persea Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "Une généalogie au féminin"
Comment: LA CITE DES DAMES was one of the first medieval books I have read (but I am by no means an expert in the area... yet!), and I recommend it to not only those interested in this period, but also for those interested in what we would call "women's studies," historiography, or similar endeavors.
It is filled with many interesting stories from ancient times to Christine's own time, which also makes the book a pretty entertaining (and sometimes even humorous) account of the historic figures it discusses. Christine herself was an amazing person, so if you buy it, be sure not to skip the introduction - especially if you are unfamiliar with medieval writings: Some of the ideas presented (and how they are presented) are much different than how we would think in modern times, so it is important to familiarize yourself with things like massive over-proving (which may end up being tedious to the unsuspecting reader), Christine's view on marriage, and literary conventions that would perhaps seem very silly to us now, but worked well 600 years ago. Basically, when reading this book, if you keep in mind the context in which it was written, you should be able to appreciate it and like it just as I have.
(by the way -- the book I read was not the Penguin edition, but rather the 1998 English translation by Earl Richards, ISBN 0892552301, so unless you're planning on extensive criticism, you should be okay with this version).
Rating: 4
Summary: well....
Comment: i read this book at a point when i wanted to graduate with honors at my university and had to read like 20 or so "great" books. i had never heard of this book, but it was on the list, so i picked it up and began reading it. i was honestly surprised by the beginning of the book, which started well. but then, honestly, i began to snicker a bit as i kept reading it. a valiant and honorable effort by Ms. depizan to bring women's rights to the discussion in a time when women were treated quite inhumane.
Rating: 5
Summary: Witty and revealing look at a period primary source
Comment: Christine falls asleep while contemplating why women in her society get such a bad rap, and has a long dream about exemplary women and their characteristics.
Did you ever wonder why we just accept that women in the Middle Ages were considered demons in disguise? Christine tells us all about what she thinks of that concept and of those who insist on spreading such maliciousness, all in an engaging story full of examples of brave, courageous, intelligent, pious, beautiful, generous women. The book was written to dispel some of the nastier slanders then current about women, but it's still good reading today.
I confess that during the part about martyrs I wandered off a bit (it is some gruesome stuff in places), but as a period source, it's definitely one every history maven ought to have. Christine is intelligent, observant, and witty; her writing fairly sparkles with indignation over the treatment of women and her sardonic amusement at those men spreading those lies. While hyper-Catholic and in places highly allegorical (and in many places its version of "history" is highly questionable, of course), it is an essential look at a time period where women didn't often make their views known in written form.
This book is distinct from "The Book of the Treasure of the City of Ladies".
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Title: The Lais of Marie De France by Glyn S. Burgess, Keith Busby ISBN: 0140447598 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: A Medieval Woman's Mirror of Honor: The Treasury of the City of Ladies by Christine De Pizan, Charity Cannon Willard, Madeleine Pelner Cosman ISBN: 0892551356 Publisher: Bard Hall Press Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Selected Writings of Christine De Pizan: New Translations, Criticism by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Kevin Brownlee, Christine ISBN: 0393970108 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Letters of Abelard and Heloise, The by Peter Abelard, Betty Radice ISBN: 0140442979 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris, Jean De Meun, Charles Dahlberg ISBN: 0691044562 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 03 July, 1995 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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