Annotation
Letters are a relevant and precious source of information on women’s lives and a vehicle for Self-expression. This course explores women’s contributions to letter writing in Europe from Antiquity to the Fifteenth century. We will try to outline female achievements in epistolography by situating them in their own historical context and employing a variety of criticism approaches.
Syllabus 1) Epistolography and the problem of the gendered writing
Women very often wrote at the boundaries of a literary world dominated by male authors. Anyway letters let them to overcome the restrictions imposed by a patriarchal culture. In fact, whatever the writer’s social position, letter served as the principal means of expression for female voices 2) The Heroides (The Heroines) of Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD)
Heroides" ("The Heroines"), also known as "Letters of Heroines", is a collection of fifteen epistolary poems (poems in the form of letters) written in the voice of the abandoned lovers and wives of famous heroes 3) Radegund (c. 520-87)
From Radegund’s epistles emerges the voice of a learned Queen, whose personal history is intimately linked with that of her nation 4) The female voice in the model letters of Rota Veneris (Wheel of Venus) by Boncompagno da Signa (1170-1240 circa)
An epistolary treatise that illuminates the relationship between rhetorical theory and the conventions of medieval erotic literature 5) Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
Hildegard of Bingen was correspondent of all level members of church and society, from popes and kings to ordinary lay people. Her letters, which take often inspiration by her visionary experience, are an expression of prophetic authority and rhetorical skills. 6) Héloïse to Abélard (XII century)
Abelard and Heloise are one of the most celebrated couples of all time, known for their love relationship and for the events that separated them. 6) Héloïse letters show us a woman claiming her place in both public (literacy/rhetoric) and private (autobiographical/emotions) realms. 7) Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)/ Agnes of Prague (1211-1282)
The four letters sent by Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Prague, show the crucial role played by a Bohemian princess, who declined an engagement to Emperor Frederick II in order to found a monastery of Poor Ladies in Prague and gain the papal approval for a Franciscan Rule for women. 8) Catherine of Siena (1347-1380)
The Epistolario of Catherine of Siena - an uneducated lay women of artisan class in Trecento Italy - constitutes a remarkable meeting place of literate and oral cultures. Her letters depict a women portrait able to find a voice and exert public influence 9) Christine de Pizan (1365- 1431?)
Even if she is best known as the author of the feminist Livre de la Cité des Dames (The book of city of Ladies), Christine was also a great letter writer. Her letters combines different literary traditions: courtly verse epistles in vernacular, Latin dictaminal rules, humanistic epistolography. 10) The Paston letters (XV century)
In the Paston letters (total: 930; by women: 170), women are portrayed as matriarchal figure dominating the household. In particular, this is the case of Margeret Paston, who was an influential figure in both inside the family context and in the whole society of Norfolk. 11) The letters of the Rožmberk sisters (XV century)
The letters of Perchta and Anéžka introduce the reader to the court of Rožmberk , which was one of the most powerful noble family in late medieval Bohemia. The correspondence of the two sisters, show how aristocratic women in fifteenth century Bohemia saw themselves and their lives. 12) Students’ Presentations and Discussions: "Female voice and expression of self in the Letter of x"
Few minutes oral presentation about one of the letters of the authors discussed over the classes. The student will be able to choose one of the letters (additional letters to those analyzed over the lectures) distributed at the fifth class of the course. This is an optional task but the efforts of all the participants will be greatly appreciated.