Synopses & Reviews
Madeleine de lAubespine (1546-1596), the toast of courtly and literary circles in sixteenth-century Paris, penned beautiful love poems to famous women of her day. The well-connected daughter and wife of prominent French secretaries of state, lAubespine was celebrated by her male peers for her erotic lyricism and scathingly original voice.
Rather than adopt the conventional self-effacement that defined female poets of the time, lAubespines speakers are sexual, dominant, and defiant; and her subjects are women who are able to manipulate, rebuke, and even humiliate men.
Unavailable in English until now and only recently identified from scattered and sometimes misattributed sources, lAubespines poems and literary works are presented here in Anna Klosowskas vibrant translation. This collection, which features one of the first French lesbian sonnets as well as reproductions of lAubespines poetic translations of Ovid and Ariosto, will be heralded by students and scholars in literature, history, and womens studies as an important addition to the Renaissance canon.
About the Author
Anna Klosowska is associate professor of French at Miami University.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsSeries Editors Introduction
Volume Editors Introduction
Volume Editors Bibliography
Selected Poems
Appendix A Translation of Ovids Heroides, Second Epistle
Appendix B: Translation from Ariostos Orlando furioso, Canto 1
Series Editors Bibliography
Notes
Index of First Lines and Titles
General Index