Renowned in her day for her scholarship and eloquence, Isotta Nogarola (1418-66) remained one of the most famous women of the Italian Renaissance for centuries after her death. And because she was one of the first women to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated republic of letters, Nogarola served as a crucial role model for generations of aspiring female artists and writers.

This volume presents English translations of all of Nogarola's extant works and highlights just how daring and original her convictions were. In her letters and orations, Nogarola elegantly synthesized Greco-Roman thought with biblical teachings. And striding across the stage in public, she lectured the Veronese citizenry on everything from history and religion to politics and morality. But the most influential of Nogarola's works was a performance piece, Dialogue on Adam and Eve, in which she discussed the relative sinfulness of Adam and Eve--thereby opening up a centuries-long debate in Europe on gender and the nature of woman and establishing herself as an important figure in Western intellectual history. This book will be a must read for teachers and students of Women's Studies as well as of Renaissance literature and history.

Renowned in her day for her scholarship and eloquence, Isotta Nogarola (1418-66) remained one of the most famous women of the Italian Renaissance for centuries after her death. And because she was one of the first women to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated republic of letters, Nogarola served as a crucial role model for generations of aspiring female artists and writers.

This volume presents English translations of all of Nogarola's extant works and highlights just how daring and original her convictions were. In her letters and orations, Nogarola elegantly synthesized Greco-Roman thought with biblical teachings. And striding across the stage in public, she lectured the Veronese citizenry on everything from history and religion to politics and morality. But the most influential of Nogarola's works was a performance piece, Dialogue on Adam and Eve, in which she discussed the relative sinfulness of Adam and Evethereby opening up a centuries-long debate in Europe on gender and the nature of woman and establishing herself as an important figure in Western intellectual history. This book will be a must read for teachers and students of Women's Studies as well as of Renaissance literature and history.

Margaret L. King is a professor of history at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Diana Robin is a professor emerita of classics at the University of New Mexico.

Series Editors' Introduction

Volume Editors' Introduction

List of Works Cited

Chapter 1: Kin, Friends, and Books (1434-37)

Introduction

1. Isotta Nogarola to Ermolao Barbaro (probably 1434)

Isotta Nogarola to Giorgio Bevilacqua (July 1436 or 1437)

Isotta Nogarola to Giorgio Bevilacqua (July 1436 or 1437)

Isotta Nogarola to Antonio Borromeo (1436 or 1437)

Chapter 2: Guarino's Circle (1436-38)

Introduction

Isotta Nogarola to Jacopo Foscari (Verona, September 1436)

Isotta Nogarola to Guarino Veronese (Verona, shortly after 11 October 1436)

Isotta Nogarola to Guarino Veronese (Verona, April 10, 1437)

Isotta Nogarola to Girolamo Guarini (Verona, beginning of 1438)

Isotta Nogarola to Ludovico Cendrata (Verona, beginning of 1438)

Isotta Nogarola to Tobia dal Borgo (Verona, January or February 1438)

Chapter 3: Venice and Beyond (1438-39)

Introduction

Isotta Nogarola to Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini (Verona, 29 March 1438)

Isotta Nogarola to Niccolò Venier (Verona, probably after 8 June 1438)

Isotta Nogarola to Feltrino Boiardo (perhaps Verona, 1438)

Isotta Nogarola to Niccolò Barbo (Venice, between 9 Dec. 1438 and 25 Jan. 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Cardinal Francesco Condulmier (Venice, 1439)

Chapter 4: Damiano (1438-41)

Introduction

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, 10 September 1438)

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, January 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Eusebio dal Borgo (Venice, January 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, February or March 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, April 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, between 5 May and 10 September 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Eusebio dal Borgo (Venice, towards the end of November 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, 3 December 1439)

Isotta Nogarola to Damiano dal Borgo (Venice, 18 April 1439 or 1440)

Chapter 5: The Book-Lined Cell (1441-early 1450s)

Introduction

Lauro Quirini to Isotta Nogarola (Padua, 1445-48 or 1451-52)

Chapter 6: Foscarini (1451-66)

Introduction

Isotta Nogarola to Ludovico Foscarini (Verona, 1451)

Ludovico Foscarini to Isotta Nogarola (Brescia, early 1453)

Chapter 7: The Great Gender Debate (1451)

Introduction

Dialogue on the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve (1451)

Chapter 8: The Black Swan: Two Orations for Ermolao Barbaro (1453)

Introduction

Oration to the Very Reverend Lord Ermolao Barbaro, Bishop of Verona (1453)

Oration in Praise of Saint Jerome (1453)

Chapter 9: Pope Pius II and the Congress of Mantua (1459)

Introduction

Isotta Nogarola to Pope Pius II at the Congress of Mantua (1 August 1459)

Chapter 10: The Consolation for Marcello and the Friuli Connection (1461)

Introduction

A Consolatory Letter to Jacopo Antonio Marcello (9 August 1461)

Appendix A: Concordance between Abel Edition and the King/Robin Translation

Appendix B: A Chronological List of Sources Cited by Isotta Nogarola

Bibliography

Index