The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men

by Lucrezia Marinella, translated by Anne Dunhill, introduction by Letizia Panizza

University of Chicago Press, 1999
Cloth: 978-0-226-50545-9 | Paper: 978-0-226-50546-6 | Electronic: 978-0-226-50550-3
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226505503.001.0001

AVAILABLE FROM

University of Chicago Press (cloth, paper, ebook)
Amazon Kindle (PDF)
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble Nook
DeGruyter Multi-User Ebook Program
ebrary
EBSCO eBooks (formerly NetLibrary)
Google Play

ABOUT THIS BOOKTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

A gifted poet, a women's rights activist, and an expert on moral and natural philosophy, Lucrezia Marinella (1571-1653) was known throughout Italy as the leading female intellectual of her age. Born into a family of Venetian physicians, she was encouraged to study, and, fortunately, she did not share the fate of many of her female contemporaries, who were forced to join convents or were pressured to marry early. Marinella enjoyed a long literary career, writing mainly religious, epic, and pastoral poetry, and biographies of famous women in both verse and prose.

Marinella's masterpiece, The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men was first published in 1600, composed at a furious pace in answer to Giusepe Passi's diatribe about women's alleged defects. This polemic displays Marinella's vast knowledge of the Italian poetic tradition and demonstrates her ability to argue against authors of the misogynist tradition from Boccaccio to Torquato Tasso. Trying to effect real social change, Marinella argued that morally, intellectually, and in many other ways, women are superior to men.

Introduction to the Series

Acknowledgments

Introduction to the Translation

The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men

Part I: The Nobility and Excellence of Women

Chapter I: On the Nobility of the Names Given to the Female Sex

Chapter II: The Causes That Produce Women

Chapter III: Of the Nature and Essence of the Female Sex

Chapter IV: The Reasons for Men's Noble Treatment of Women and the Things They Say about Women

Chapter V: Of Women's Noble Actions and Virtues, Which Greatly Surpass Men's, as Will Be Proved by Reasoning and Example

Chapter VI: A Reply to the Flippant and Vain Reasoning Adopted by Men in Their Own Favor

Part II: The Defects and Vices of Men

Chapter IV: Of Wrathful, Eccentric, and Brutal Men

Chapter XII: Of Obstinate and Pertinacious Men

Chapter XIII: Of Ungrateful and Discourteous Men

Chapter XIV: Of Fickle, Inconstant Men

Chapter XV: Of Evil Men Who Hate Others Easily

Chapter XXII: Of Men Who Are Ornate, Polished, Painted, and Bleached

Chapter XXX: Of Men Who Kill Their Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, and Grandchildren

Bibliography

Index