The Merits of Women: Wherein Is Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men - Softcover

Fonte, Moderata; Maraini, Dacia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022655063X ISBN 13: 9780226550633

Verlag: University of Chicago Press, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

You would as well look for blood in a corpse as for the least shred of decency in a man . . .

Without help from their wives, men are just like unlit lamps . . .

Just think of them as an unreliable clock that tells you it’s ten o’clock when it’s in fact barely two . . .

A man without a woman is like a fly without a head . . .

These are but a small selection of the quips bandied about at this lively gathering of women. The broad topic at hand is the relative pros and cons of men, and the cases in point range from pick-up artists to locker-room talk, and from double standards to fragile masculinity.

Yet this dialogue unfolds not among ironically misandrist millenials venting at their local dive bar, but rather among sixteenth-century women—variously married, widowed, single, and betrothed—attending a respectable Venice garden party. Written in the early 1590s by Moderata Fonte, pseudonym of the Renaissance poet and writer Modesta Pozzo, this literary dialogue interrogates men and men’s treatment of women, and explores by contrast the virtues of singledom and female friendship. As the women diverge from their theme—discussing everything from astrology to the curative powers of plants and minerals—a remarkable group portrait of wisdom, wit, and erudition emerges.

A new introduction by translator Virginia Cox and foreword by Dacia Maraini situate The Merits of Women in its historical context, written as it was on the cusp of Shakespeare’s heyday, and straddling the centuries between the feminist works of Christine de Pizan and Mary Wollstonecraft. Elegantly presented for a general audience, this is a must-read for baby feminists and “nasty women” alike, not to mention the perfect subtle gift for any mansplaining friend who needs a refresher on the merits of women . . . and their superiority to men.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Moderata Fonte was the pseudonym of Modesta Pozzo (1555-92), a Venetian writer and poet. She also wrote The Thirteen Cantos of Floridoro, a chivalric romance.

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The Merits of Women

Wherein Is Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men

By Moderata Fonte, Virginia Cox

The University of Chicago Press

Copyright © 2018 The University of Chicago
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-226-55063-3

Contents

Publisher's Note, 
Foreword DACIA MARAINI, 
Introduction VIRGINIA COX, 
Life of Moderata Fonte GIOVANNI NICCOLÒ DOGLIONI, 
The Merits of Women, 
First Day, 
Second Day, 
Further Reading, 
Biographical Notes, 

CHAPTER 1

First Day

THE MOST NOBLE CITY OF VENICE lies wondrously situated on the farthest shores of the Adriatic Sea; and not only is this city founded on the sea, but the walls that surround her, the fortresses that guard her, and the gates that enclose her are nothing other than that same sea. The sea, divided up and channeled into canals between the houses, forms a convenient thoroughfare, whereby people are ferried from one place to another with the aid of little boats. The sea is the high road of the city and the open countryside around it, through which pass all the goods and traffics that arrive there from various parts.

So this city is utterly different from all others and a novel and miraculous example of God's handiwork. Venice exceeds all other ancient and modern cities in nobility and dignity, so that it may in all justice be called the Metropolis of the universe. Its pomp and glory are beyond calculation; its riches are inexhaustible; and the splendor of the buildings, the sumptuousness of the clothes, the remarkable freedom enjoyed by its inhabitants are things that cannot be imagined or described. It is quite remarkable how everyone loves living there, for it seems as though all newcomers, as soon as they have tasted the sweetness of life there, find it impossible to leave. And this means that there are people of every nationality in the city, and, just as the limbs and arteries of our body are all connected to the heart, so all cities and all parts of the world are connected to Venice. Money flows here as nowhere else and ours is a city as free as the sea itself. And what is most marvelous of all is that although the city harbors such a great diversity of races and customs, nonetheless an incredible peace and justice reign there.

Well then, in this truly divine city, there was once not long ago a group of noble and spirited women, all from the most respected families of the city, who, despite their great differences in age and marital status, were so united by breeding and taste that a tender bond of friendship had formed between them. These women would often steal time together for a quiet conversation; and on these occasions, safe from any fear of being spied on by men or constrained by their presence, they would speak freely on whatever subject they pleased. Sometimes one of them, who was fond of music, taking up her lute or tempering her sweet voice with the notes of a harpsichord, would provide a charming entertainment; or another, whose tastes inclined to poetry, would recite some novel and elegant composition to entertain that judicious audience in a fresh and pleasing manner.

The women were seven in number. The first was Adriana, an elderly widow; the second, a young daughter of hers, of marriageable age, called Virginia; the third, a young widow called Leonora; the fourth, an older married woman called Lucretia. The fifth woman, Cornelia, was a young married woman; the sixth, Corinna, a young dimmessa. The seventh, Helena, a young bride, had temporarily left the group, for she had gone to stay with her new husband in a nearby villa on the mainland, and since the wedding none of the others had seen her.

Now this most worthy group of friends, hearing that the young widow Leonora had recently inherited a house with a very lovely garden, decided to pay her a visit there at the first opportunity. And so one day they went in a party to pay a visit on this charming young hostess; and after the usual greetings had passed between them, they repaired at her invitation to a light and airy room (for it was the height of summer). There some — the older ones — went out onto a balcony overlooking the Grand Canal, and lingered there for a while enjoying the fresh air and watching the gondolas flying past below. The others, led by Virginia, drew up to a window that overlooked the garden and stood there larking about as young girls do when they are together, affectionately teasing one another.

After a while, a gondola was seen pulling up to the quay; and, as the women looked at it, wondering whose it could be, they suddenly realized that it belonged to Helena. The young bride had just returned from the country and, hearing that all her friends were assembled at Leonora's, she had come there at once to see them all, and in particular Virginia, who before her marriage had been her closest friend. When the women saw it was Helena arriving, their happiness was complete, for she was a very charming young woman; and she had hardly got up the stairs before they all flocked around her, embracing her and smothering her with kisses. Then they led her into the drawing room, where they all sat down and feasted their eyes upon her; until finally Virginia spoke up and asked her how she had been all this time and whether she was happy.

Before Helena could reply, Leonora, who had a keen wit, cut in with these words: "My dear Virginia, how can you ask such a thing, when everyone already knows the answer? For popular opinion dictates that no new bride can be anything other than happy."

"Well, let's not say happy," added Lucretia. "Rather, as well as can be expected."

"When I think about it," said Helena, "I'm not sure I can say yet whether I'm happy or not. I greatly enjoy my husband's company, but there is one thing about him that dismays me a little. He is quite insistent that I should not leave the house, whereas I long for nothing more than to go to all the weddings and banquets to which I am invited — partly because this is my time for diversion, but also because I'm concerned to keep up my own and my husband's reputation by letting the world see that he is treating me well and that I can dress as befits a gentlewoman, as you can see."

"I hope to God," Cornelia interjected, "that you'll never have anything worse to complain of! But you have yet to learn how quickly a wedding cake can go stale."

"Our 'young married,'" said Lucretia, "is still unconvinced of this truth; she can't make up her mind to believe it. And she's quite right, of course, for everything is lovely when it has the charm of novelty."

"What you mean is that everything seems lovely when it has the charm of novelty," said Leonora.

"As to that," replied Lucretia, "seeming good in such cases is much the same as being good. For if something I eat, for example, seems good to my palate, even if it isn't, it's as good as if it were."

"Don't make me laugh," rejoined Leonora. "If that's the case, then we shouldn't wonder at the bakerwoman who, after toiling all day over her hot oven, ran outside to strip off her little ones' clothes, in the belief that they too must be suffering from the heat, without considering that it was the depths of winter!"

Cornelia laughed at Leonora's joke and exclaimed, "Praise God that we are free to do just as we please, even tell jokes like that to make each other laugh, with no one here to criticize us or put us down."

"Exactly," said Leonora. "If a man could hear us now, laughing together like this, how he would scoff! There'd be no...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Chicago Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 022655063X
• ISBN 13: 9780226550633
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 129
• Herausgeber: Cox Virginia
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
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