A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375-1650

Product Description

Women's vibrant presence in the Italian Renaissance has long been overlooked, with attention focused mainly on the artistic and intellectual achievements of their male counterparts. During this period, however, Italian women excelled especially as writers, and nowhere were they more expressive than in their letters. In
A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375-1650 Lisa Kaborycha considers the lives and cultural contributions revealed by these women in their own words, through their correspondence. By turns highly personal, didactic, or devotional, these letters expose the daily realities of women's lives and their feelings, ideas, and reactions to the complex world in which they lived. Through their letters women emerge not merely as bystanders, but as true cultural protagonists in the Italian Renaissance.

A Corresponding Renaissance is divided into eight thematic chapters, featuring fifty-five letters that are newly translated into English-many for the first time ever. Each of the letters is annotated and includes a brief biographical introduction and bibliographic references. The women come from all walks of life–saints, poets, courtesans and countesses–and from every geographic area of Italy; chronologically they span the entire Renaissance, with the majority representing the sixteenth century. Approximately one third of the selections are well-known letters, such as those of Catherine of Siena, Veronica Franco, and Isabella d'Este; the rest are lesser known, previously un-translated, or otherwise inaccessible.

Review

“[O]ne of the most vivid, informative, and touching pictures of the Italian Renaissance and its seventeenth-century aftermath that I have ever had the pleasure to read.”–Judith Rice Henderson,
The Sixteenth Century Journal

“This excellent anthology of Renaissance Italian women's letters…will be interesting and helpful to those teaching and researching women's history: women's letter-writing but also the many aspects of the lives of early modern women revealed in their letters, relevant to non-Italian as well as Italian women. The wide range of subjects and individuals covered will lend itself to making selections to complement other readings and other parts of a course.”–
Renaissance Quarterly

”
A Corresponding Renaissance proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Italian women were remarkable writers and that their letters are invaluable entry points into the dynamics of patronage, family, religion, and politics during one of the most exciting periods of Italian history.”–Jane Tylus,
New
York University

“The translations are clear and readable and the introductory materials are superb, with just the right balance of biographical detail and historical context to bring these remarkable women to life. The topics range from domestic and personal to scholarly and political, and from the very brief and particular to the substantial and literary. This collection offers a vibrant introduction to the world of Renaissance Italy, and especially to the women and their lives.”–Ann E. Moyer,
University of Pennsylvania

“Kaborycha's translations are clear and engaging, her commentary precise, and the collection superbly assembled. This is a marvelous new resource for scholars and students alike.”–Margaret Meserve,
University of Notre Dame

“There is no doubt that the selection of letters translated in
A Corresponding Renaissance will spur students and scholars alike to a renewed examination of these early modern women and of the Renaissance art of epistolography.”–Meredith Ray,
University of Delaware

“The range of topics is excellent and the thematic focus of each chapter is clearly and usefully presented. The choice of letters will permit students to look into several areas of women's cultural and social lives, as well as their purely intellectual concerns.”–Margaret King,
City University of
New York

“Kaborycha's creative choices make this text emin