Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy , and: Marriage in Italy, 1300-1650 (review)

Abstract

Reviews 1 7 1 hated) speculation that the not infrequent substitution of V for 'n' and vice versa (a c o m m o n mistake in fifteenth-century printing) was not done in error. The outiining of editorial procedure is followed by a section which purports to be an analysis of the vocabulary, but which is in fact a partial list of emendations. Moreover, separated from the textby almost thirty pages, it offers nothing by way of textual apparatus. W h e n w e turn our attention to the text itself, w efinderrors and omissions in the transcription occur with disturbing frequency and the modernisation is inconsistent. Some obvious errors are not emended, and new errors are introduced. Attimes,too, the glossing i s either inadequate or wrong, and suggests a lack of familiarity with fifteenth-century English structures and forms. Inthe final analysis, then, it is disappointing that the very worthwhile preliminary material does not accompany a more reliable text. Peter Whiteford Department of English Victoria University of Wellington Brown, Judith C. and Robert C. Davis, ed., Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy ( W o m e n and M e n in History 3), Harlow, Essex/New York, Addison Wesley Longman, 1998; paper; pp. xi, 255; R.R.R £ 13.99. Dean, Trevor and K. J. P. Lowe ed., Marriage in Italy, 1300-1650 Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998; cloth; pp. xi, 304; R.R.R A U S $95.00. The history of women during the Italian Renaissance has come a long way since the publication of Joan Kelly's ground-breaking article of 1977 'Did W o m e n H a v e a Renaissance?'. The two 172 Reviews publications under review illustrate, in different ways, h o w far we have come since then, while both, in different ways, suggest new directions for future research. Brown and Davis's Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy, writt with the general reader and student in mind as well as the scholar, i s an accessible contribution to thefield,covering a broad range of topics and approaches. Some attempt is m a d e to refer to cities other than the usual Florence or Venice (Milan and Bologna, for example) although this is somewhat constrained by the availability ofpublished material and the research interests of the contributors. The collection contains 10 chapters and an introduction as well as a glossary of terms and an annotated guide to further reading by Robert C. Davis. The introduction—written by Judith Brown—begins by reminding us of Joan Kelly's question and the argument of their 'perfect equality' with m e n put forward by the nineteenth-century Swiss historian, Jacob Burckhardt, which she sought to rebut and challenge. The survey of the historiography on Italian Renaissance w o m e n in the twenty years since Kelly's pioneering essay is most useful for students—clearly and concisely written and well integrated with the discussion of the various essays which make up the volume. Brown's discussion of the possibilities of gender analysis and critiques of this approach is also well done (pp. 4-5). The introduction continues with a discussion of the various themes of the collection, h o w they relate to the different articles and the questions about gender and society and the continuities and changes over time that the various authors raise. Brown ends with the dilemma faced by one Italian w o m a n humanist, Isotta Nogarola, whose intellect and ability can only be conceived of as exceptional in a w o m a n and so she is gendered male by the man w h o praises her (p. 15). This ending highlights a puzzling gap in the collection. W h y is there no discussion of w o m e n humanists or Reviews 173 the gendering of humanist thought? Surely, given that the focus is on Renaissance Italy, a discussion of humanism and gender would have made an appropriate topic for the collection? Part One of the collection deals with the gendered city. First, Robert Davis discusses the gendering of urban space in Venice, how men sought to...