Publishing Women
Salons, the Presses, and the Counter-Reformation in Sixteenth-Century Italy
Even the most comprehensive Renaissance histories have neglected the vibrant groups of women writers that emerged in cities across Italy during the mid-1500s—and the thriving network of printers, publishers, and agents that specialized in producing and selling their books. In Publishing Women, Diana Robin finally brings to life this story of women’s cultural and intellectual leadership in early modern Italy, illuminating the factors behind—and the significance of—their sudden dominance.
Focusing on the collective publication process, Robin portrays communities in Naples, Venice, Rome, Siena, and Florence, where women engaged in activities that ranged from establishing literary salons to promoting religious reform. Her innovative cultural history considers the significant roles these women played in tandem with men, rather than separated from them. In doing so, it collapses the borders between women’s history, Renaissance and Reformation studies, and book history to evoke a historical moment that catapulted women’s writings and women-sponsored books into the public sphere for the first time anywhere in Europe.
Modern Language Association of America: MLA-Howard R. Marraro Prize
Won
“As Diana Robin traces the fortunes of a group of outspoken women intellectuals in Reformation and Counter-Reformation Italy, she enables us to rethink the relationship of Renaissance women writers to the literary and religious landscapes of sixteenth-century Europe in exciting new ways.”—Jane Tylus, New York University
“Diana Robin offers an entirely new account of the dynamics of literary publication in mid-sixteenth-century Italy by focusing on women-led salons and the analogous ‘virtual salons’ created by the press in poetic anthologies. She demonstrates conclusively that women writers were not merely observers or marginal players but rather fierce partisans in the culture wars of the Counter-Reformation—loyal comrades to the better-known male reformers, patrons of risk-taking publishers, and formidable adversaries of popes and inquisitors.”—Paul F. Gehl, custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing, Newberry Library
Foreward by Catharine R. Stimpson
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Note on the Texts
ONE. Ischia and the Birth of a Salon
TWO. From Naples to Venice: The Publication of Two Salons
THREE. Rome: The Salt War Letters of Vittoria Colonna
FOUR. Between Rome and Venice: The Temples of Giovanna d'Aragona
FIVE. Laudomia Forteguerri's Canzoniere and the Fall of Siena
SIX. Florence: Intimate Dialogues and the End of the Reform Movement
EPILOGUE
APPENDIX A. The Giolito Poetry Anthology Series: Titles, Printers, Editors, Dedicatees, Poets in Editions 1545-1560
APPENDIX B. Descriptions of the Fifteen Volumes of the Giolito Anthology Series: 1545-1560
APPENDIX C. Chronology of Events
APPENDIX D. Biographical-Bibliographical Index of Authors, Patrons, Editors
Notes
Bibliography
Index
History: European History
Library Science and Publishing: Publishing
Literature and Literary Criticism: Classical Languages | Romance Languages
Religion: Christianity | Comparative Studies and History of Religion
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