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The daughter of Louis XI, Anne of France (1461-1522) was one of the
most powerful women of the fifteenth century. Referred to by her
contemporaries as 'Madame la Grande', she controlled the government
of France for eight years after the death of her father, guiding
the kingdom through a series of crises. While ceding formal power
to her brother Charles VIII in 1491, she remained an active and
influential figure in France throughout her life. As the fifteenth
century drew to a close, Anne composed a series of 'enseignements',
or "lessons," for her daughter Suzanne of Bourbon. These
instructions represent a distillation of her lifetime of reading
and her own first-hand knowledge of the world; having managed to
steer her own course successfully, she offered her daughter advice
intended to help her negotiate the difficult passage of a woman in
the world of politics Her lessons carefully prepare Suzanne to act
both circumspectly and politically; in drawing her portrait of an
ideal princess, Anne presents a guidebook on governance for
Suzanne, one not altogether unlike Machiavelli's more famous book
of advice for a would-be prince, written some fifteen years later.
The lessons are here translated into English for the first time and
accompanied by full introduction, commentary and notes.
Throughout her life, in her personal relationships as well as in
her role as a public intellectual, the English thinker Mary Astell
(1666-1731) supported women, wrote to and for women, and, to the
greatest extent possible, moved from advocacy to action on their
behalf. In Some Reflections upon Marriage (London, 1700), Astell
focused her attention on the institution of marriage. For Astell,
marriage is a divinely ordained state, a "Christian institution,"
the only way to perpetuate humankind. But, she asks, "if marriage
be such a blessed state, how comes it . . . there are so few happy
marriages?" When her analysis is complete, there is not much to
recommend the institution, at least from a woman's perspective.
Marriage is necessary since it represents "the only honorable way
of continuing mankind." But, as Astell observes, the woman who
marries "ought to lay it down for an indisputable maxim that her
husband must govern absolutely and entirely and that she has
nothing else to do but to please and obey." Her radical conclusion?
If she cannot accept marriage "as it truly is," then a woman might
choose not to marry: perhaps, Astell suggests, "it is not good for
a woman to marry." Despite the importance of Some Reflections upon
Marriage, no previous edition has addressed the complications of
Astell's prose style, and none has added the kind of glossing and
notes that will assist student readers in their engagement with her
distinctive voice. This edition, designed for classroom use,
provides an ample introduction, a carefully modernized text,
helpful glosses and notes, and a useful bibliography with
references for further reading.
Throughout her life, in her personal relationships as well as in
her role as a public intellectual, the English thinker Mary Astell
(1666-1731) supported women, wrote to and for women, and, to the
greatest extent possible, moved from advocacy for to action on
behalf of women. In her first published work, A Serious Proposal to
the Ladies (London 1694), Astell proposed the establishment of an
educational institution for women aimed solely at fulfilling their
needs, a place where women could withdraw from a harsh and
threatening world controlled by men and organized to suit men's
desires, irrespective of women's. Perhaps nowhere is her feminist
position more clearly articulated than on the title page of this,
her first publication: she addresses herself to women, her aim is
"the advancement of their true and greatest interest," and she
identifies herself as "a lover of her sex." But, despite its
importance, no previously available edition of A Serious Proposal
to the Ladies has addressed the complications of Astell's prose
style, and none has added the kind of glossing and notes that will
assist student readers in their engagement with her distinctive
voice. This edition, designed for classroom use, provides an ample
introduction, a carefully modernized text, helpful glosses and
notes, and a useful bibliography with references for further
reading.
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