182 pp / Softcover / June 2014 / 978-0-7727-2168-6 / $27.95
Critical introduction by Molly M. Martin. Edited and translated by Molly M. Martin and Paola Ugolini
Veronica Gambara (1485-1550) was one of the most celebrated lyric poets of early sixteenth-century Italy. Equally significant to Gambara’s literary repute was her political standing as the dowager Countess of Correggio – a role she assumed upon her husband’s death in 1519 and held to the end or her life. Gambara’s early amorous poetry in the Petrarchan style led her to be hailed by Pietro Bembo as “the voice […] that honors Brescia,” while the poetry she composed throughout her governing years was deeply engaged in the political discourses of her time. Though she never published a collected edition of her poetry, Gambara produced an extensive oeuvre of vernacular verse that has been extensively anthologized. This book presents the first complete bilingual edition of Gambara’s verse, with critical notes that illuminate her sophisticated literary interplay with the Petrarchan and Classical traditions. The critical introduction sheds light on the unique interrelationship between Gambara’s cultural currency and her political power, as she drew on her literary talent to participate in the political arena to emerge as one of the first women poet-rulers of the Early Modern Italian tradition.
“This edition brings all [Gambara’s] poems together for the first time, provides a richly informed introduction filling in her biography, including her many social circles, and offers an excellent set of historical data and literary-critical references.”
— Ann Rosalind Jones
Ester Cloudman Dunn Professor of Comparative Literature, Smith College
To view an excerpt from the introduction, please click here [PDF].
Molly M. Martin received her PhD in Italian Literature from Columbia University. She currently teaches in the Global Liberal Studies program at New York University.
Paola Ugolini received her PhD in Italian Studies from New York University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Italian at The University at Buffalo (SUNY).
Early Modern Women’s Journal, 10:2. pp. 185-188. Reviewed by Rinaldina Russell.
Renaissance and Reformaion, 40:1 (2017). Reviewed by Benedetta Lamana.
Renaissance Quarterly, 68:4 (2012). pp 1498-1499. Reviewed by Nadia Cannata Salamone.
The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies no longer sells or distributes books in “The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series.” Starting July 2015, volumes can be purchased by individuals and institutions from the Chicago Distribution Center. Contact CDC by email (orders@press.uchicago.edu), by fax (800-621-8476 or 773-702-7212), or by phone (800-621-2736 or 773-702-7000).
182 pp / Softcover / June 2014 / 978-0-7727-2168-6 / $27.95
