De Mulieribus Claris
De Mulieribus Claris by Giovanni Boccaccio, published by Harvard University Press in 2001, is a significant work in the realm of biography and literary criticism. This edition, comprising 530 pages, offers the first English translation based on Boccaccio’s autograph manuscript of the Latin text. The book presents a collection of biographies dedicated exclusively to women, showcasing figures that range from the exemplary to the notorious, including both historical and mythological characters as well as Renaissance contemporaries.
Readers will find that Boccaccio’s work provides a fascinating glimpse into a transformative period in history, where medieval views on women began to shift towards more modern perspectives. The 106 biographies included in this volume reflect the author’s storytelling prowess and his engagement with humanist ideals. This edition not only highlights the lives of these women but also illustrates the cultural and historical context of Europe during the Renaissance, making it a notable contribution to the fields of biography, history, and literary criticism.
Official synopsis Publisher
After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch’s humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio(1313-1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them is Famous Women, the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women.
The 106 women whose life stories make up this volume range from the exemplary to the notorious, from historical and mythological figures to Renaissance contemporaries. In the hands of a master storyteller, these brief biographies afford a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women were beginning to give way to more modern views of their potential.
Famous Women, which Boccaccio continued to revise and expand until the end of his life, became one of the most popular works in the last age of the manuscript book, and had a signal influence on many literary works, including Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Castiglione’s Courtier. This edition presents the first English translation based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.
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