Poems and Selected Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

Poems and Selected Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)
by Veronica Franco

Poems and Selected Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Veronica Franco
Translator: Ann Rosalind Jones
Translator: Margaret F. Rosenthal
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-02-15
ISBN: 0226259870
Number of pages: 326
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press

Book Reviews of Poems and Selected Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

Book Review: Dangerously addictive poetry.
Summary: 5 Stars

I had wanted to get my hands on a book of Veronica Franco's poetry ever since I read THE HONEST COURTESAN. When I discovered that this was available, I snapped it up in a heartbeat. The poetry itself is a decadent pleasure, much like eating cheesecake in a bubble bath, but what makes it even better is the layout. One page has the poem in the original Italian, with the translation on the page opposite. This makes it very easy to compare and study them. The writings provide an interesting look into the mind and personality of the woman who inspired DANGEROUS BEAUTY.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in poetry, 16th century Venice, or just wants a fun book to pass back and forth with friends while waiting for the feast to be served.

Summary of Poems and Selected Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

Veronica Franco (whose life is featured in the motion picture Dangerous Beauty) was a sixteenth-century Venetian beauty, poet, and protofeminist. This collection captures the frank eroticism and impressive eloquence that set her apart from the chaste, silent woman prescribed by Renaissance gender ideology.

As an "honored courtesan", Franco made her living by arranging to have sexual relations, for a high fee, with the elite of Venice and the many travelers?merchants, ambassadors, even kings?who passed through the city. Courtesans needed to be beautiful, sophisticated in their dress and manners, and elegant, cultivated conversationalists. Exempt from many of the social and educational restrictions placed on women of the Venetian patrician class, Franco used her position to recast "virtue" as "intellectual integrity," offering wit and refinement in return for patronage and a place in public life.

Franco became a writer by allying herself with distinguished men at the center of her city's culture, particularly in the informal meetings of a literary salon at the home of Domenico Venier, the oldest member of a noble family and a former Venetian senator. Through Venier's protection and her own determination, Franco published work in which she defended her fellow courtesans, speaking out against their mistreatment by men and criticizing the subordination of women in general. Venier also provided literary counsel when she responded to insulting attacks written by the male Venetian poet Maffio Venier.

Franco's insight into the power conflicts between men and women and her awareness of the threat she posed to her male contemporaries make her life and work pertinent today.



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