Writing Gender in Women's Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance / / Meredith K Ray.

• VerfasserIn: Ray, Meredith K,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2017]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Acknowledgments --; PART ONE: The Vernacular Letter in Context --; Introduction: Reading the Lettera familiare --; 1 Women's Vernacular Letters in Context --; PART TWO: The Epistolary Construction of Gender --; 2 Female Impersonations: Ortensio Lando's Lettere di molte valorose donne --; 3 'A gloria del sesso feminile': The Lettere of Lucrezia Gonzaga as Exemplary Narrative --; PART THREE: Epistolary Space and Female Experience --; 4 The Courtesan's Voice: Veronica Franco's Lettere familiari --; 5 Between Stage and Page: The Letters of Isabella Andreini --; 6 The Pen for the Sword: Arcangela Tarabotti's Lettere familiari e di complimento --; Epilogue: Writing Letters, Performing Gender --; Notes --; Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781442697836
• DOI: 10.3138/9781442697836
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Meredith K Ray.

During the Italian Renaissance, dozens of early modern writers published collections of private correspondence, using them as vehicles for self-presentation, self-promotion, social critique, and religious dissent. Writing Gender in Women's Letter Collections of the Italian Renaissance examines the letter collections of women writers, arguing that these works were a studied performance of pervasive ideas about gender as well as genre, a form of self-fashioning that variously reflected, manipulated, and subverted cultural and literary conventions regarding femininity and masculinity.Meredith K. Ray presents letter collections from authors of diverse backgrounds, including a noblewoman, a courtesan, an actress, a nun, and a male writer who composed letters under female pseudonyms. Ray's study includes extensive new archival research and highlights a widespread interest in women's letter collections during the Italian Renaissance that suggests a deep curiosity about the female experience and a surprising openness to women's participation in this kind of literary production.