The Book of the City of Ladies (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Christine de Pizan
- First Published: 1405
- Type of Work: Social criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History
- Subjects: Sexism, Gender roles, Paris, Women’s issues, Women, Ethics, Human behavior, Fifteenth century, Women’s rights, Middle Ages, Debates or debating
- Locales: Paris, France, City of Ladies (mythic)
Form and Content
Written in 1405 by the daughter of an Italian astrologer attached to the court of France, The Book of the City of Ladies: A Fifteenth-Century Defense of Women is Christine de Pizan’s retelling of universal history from a feminist as well as a late medieval perspective. The work is an extensive, three-part prose allegory developed in accordance with established conventions of classical rhetoric—a form considered by Christine’s contemporaries to be accessible only to formally educated male writers.
The three sections of the book are clearly...
[The entire page is 2366 words long]
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