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During her lifetime, the gifted writer Marie le Jars de Gournay (1565-1645) was celebrated as one of the "seventy most famous women of all time" in Jean de la Forge's Circle of Learned Women (1663). The adopted daughter of Montaigne, as well as his editor, Gournay was a major literary force and a pioneering feminist voice during a tumultuous period in France.This volume presents translations of four of Gournay's works that address feminist issues. Two of these appear here in English for the first time—The Promenade of Monsieur de Montaigne and The Apology for the Woman Writing. One of the first modern psychological novels, the best-selling Promenade was also the first to explore female sexual feeling. With the autobiographical Apology, Gournay defended every aspect of her life, from her moral conduct to her household management. The book also includes Gournay's last revisions (1641) of her two best-known feminist treatises, The Equality of Men and Women and The Ladies' Complaint. The editors provide a general overview of Gournay's career, as well as individual introductions and extensive annotations for each work.
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APOLOGY FOR THE WOMAN WRITING and other works THE OTHER VOICE IN E A R LY M O D E R N EUROPE A Series Edit ed by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil, Jr. OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES H E N R I C U S C O R N E L I U S A G R I P PA LUCREZIA MARINELLA Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex The Nobility and Excellence of Women, and the Defects and Vices of Men Edited and translated by Albert Rabil, Jr. Edited and translated by Anne Dunhill with Letizia Panizza L A U R A C E R E TA Collected Letters of a Renaissance Feminist ANTONIA PULCI Edited and translated by Diana Robin Florentine Drama for Convent and Festival Edited and translated by James Wyatt Cook TULLIA D’ARAGONA Dialogue on the Infinity of Love S I S T E R B A RT O L O M E A R I C C O B O N I Edited and translated by Rinaldina Russell and Bruce Merry Life and Death in a Venetian Convent: The Chronicle and Necrology of Corpus Domini, 1395–1436 CASSANDRA FEDELE Edited and translated by Daniel Bornstein Letters and Orations Edited and translated by Diana Robin A N N A M A R I A VA N S C H U R M A N CECILIA FERRAZZI Autobiography of an Aspiring Saint “Whether a Christian Woman Should Be Educated” and Other Writings from Her Intellectual Circle Edited and translated by Anne Jacobson Schutte Edited and translated by Joyce L. Irwin M O D E R ATA F O N T E LUCREZIA TORNABUONI DE’ MEDICI The Worth of Women Sacred Narratives Edited and translated by Virginia Cox Edited and translated by Jane Tylus VERONICA FRANCO JUAN LUIS VIVES Poems and Selected Letters “The Education of a Christian Woman”: A Sixteenth-Century Manual Edited and translated by Ann Rosalind Jones and Margaret F. Rosenthal Edited and translated by Charles Fantazzi Marie de Gournay APOLOGY FOR THE WOMAN WRITING and other works Edited and Translated by Richard Hillman and Colette Quesnel General and Section Introductions by Richard Hillman THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago and London Marie de Gournay, 1565–1645 Richard Hillman is professor of English at the Université François-Rabelais in Tours, France. His previous books include Self-Speaking in Medieval and Early Modern English Drama. Colette Quesnel is affiliated with the Université du Québec à Montréal. She is the author of Mourir de rire d’après et avec Rabelais. Together they translated and edited Preface to the Essay