She Speaks Volumes

She Speaks Volumes: a primer for 500 years of feminist history, and philosophy 

Created by: Daniella Sorrentino. Feral Culture Lab - feralculturelab.com 

Episode 2: The Book of the City of Ladies:

Written by Christine de Pizan - 1405 

Excerpts read by: Leanne Woodward: https://www.leannenarrates.com 

Two translations of The Book of the City of Ladies were used to create this episode:

The excerpt is from the Penguin 1999 edition, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/352/35288/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies/9780141907581.html

My notes, and the blog posts were based on the translation by Earl Jeffrey Richards published by Persea Books in 1998

https://www.perseabooks.com/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies

PLEASE: whenever possible support your local bricks and mortar bookstore

Christine de Pisan: Christine de Pisan, (born 1364, Venice [Italy]—died c. 1430), prolific and versatile French poet and author whose diverse writings include numerous poems of courtly love, a biography of Charles V of France, and several works championing women.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christine-de-Pisan

The British Library has a digitized copy of The Book of the City of Ladies, illuminated by Christine de Pizan. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies 

To support She Speaks Volumes please donate at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FeralCulture 

She Speaks Volumes S1-E1: A Room of One’s Own 

This is a re-vamp of the original episode

A Room of One’s Own written by Virginia Woolf, 1929 

Originally published by Hogarth press.  This edition published by Penguin Random House

Also available at Gutenberg:  http://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/woolfv-aroomofonesown/woolfv-aroomofonesown-00-h.html 

Excerpts read by: Fiona Thraille

Episode Glossary:

The Verneys: A prominent British family that left a legacy of letters and papers detailing life until 1693. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verney_family_of_Middle_Claydon

The Hutchinsons: I am not sure….

Cleopatra: Queen of the Ptolemaic Region: 51–30 BC  - VW is referencing Shakespeare’s tragedy: Anthony and Cleopatra. 

Lady MacBeth: From Shakespeare’s Macbeth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Macbeth 

Rosalind: From Shakespeare’s As You Like It. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_(As_You_Like_It) 

Clytemnestra: raped and forced into marriage by the tyrant Agamemnon, she avenged herself and the death of her eldest daughter Iphigenia by murdering him with the help of her lover Aegisthus. 

Antigone: In Greek mythology Antigone is the daughter of Jocasta and her son Oedipus (Oedipus Rex), VW’s reference is most likely to the play and charchter in Sophocles play Antigone. 

Phaedra: Cretan princess, half-sister of the Minotaur. Phaedra falls passionately in love with her stepson Hippolytus, but it is unrequited. Phaedra tells her husband Theseus that Hippolytus tried to rape her and Theseus calls in a favour from Posiedon who summons a bull from the sea that scares his horse and kills Hippolytus. 

Cressida: refers most likely to Shakespeare’s Cressida, from the play Troilus and Cressida, which is based on the Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, a telling of a Trojan legend originally by Benoît de Sainte-Maure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cressida 

Desdemona: From Shakespeare’s play Othello: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desdemona 

The Duchess of Malfi: A play by John Webster premiered 1614, about the Italian aristocrat Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanna_d%27Aragona,_Duchess_of_Amalfi 

Millamant: from the play The Way of the World by William Congreve, a restoration comedy that premiered in 1700. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_World 

Clarissa: The main character in the novel ‘