Gendering the Renaissance

Meredith K. Ray is Elias Ahuja Professor of Italian at the University of Delaware. Her books include Margherita Sarrocchi’s Letters to Galileo: Astronomy, Astrology, and Poetics in Seventeenth-Century Italy, Daughters of Alchemy: Women and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy, and Writing Gender in Women’s Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance. Her translations include Machiavelli: Political, Historical, and Literary Writings, co-edited with Mark Jurdjevic and, with Lynn Lara Westwater, Arcangela Tarabotti’s Letters Familiar and Formal and Convent Paradise.Lynn Lara Westwater is a professor of Italian at The George Washington University. Her books include Sarra Copia Sulam: A SalonniÈre and the Press in Counter-Reformation Venice; with Meredith K. Ray, critical editions of Arcangela Tarabotti’s Letters Familiar and Formal and Convent Paradise; and with Diana Robin, a critical edition of Ippolita Sforza’s writing titled Duchess and Hostage in Renaissance Naples: Letters and Orations.

"Enriches our understanding of the gender dynamics that shaped the Renaissance and early modern era. . . . Essential reading for early modernists. . . . A provocative, well-researched, and highly engaging study that appeals to students, specialists, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of gendered discourses in early modern Italian history, literature, and culture. . . . Ultimately, this book reminds us that understanding gender in its full complexity enhances our knowledge of history and culture." (Modern Philology) "Enriches our understanding of the gender dynamics that shaped the Renaissance and early modern era. . . . Essential reading for early modernists. . . . A provocative, well-researched, and highly engaging study that appeals to students, specialists, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of gendered discourses in early modern Italian history, literature, and culture. . . . Ultimately, this book reminds us that understanding gender in its full complexity enhances our knowledge of history and culture." (Modern Philology)