Famous Women

by Giovanni Boccaccio, Virginia Brown (Translator)

The first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women, Famous Women affords a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women were beginning to give way to more modern views of their potential. Virginia Brown’s acclaimed translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic work, commissioned for the I Tatti Renaissance Library, is the first English edition based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.

Genres: Classics, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Renaissance, Italy, Medieval

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1362

About the author

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian author and poet, a friend and correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist in his own right and author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular. Boccaccio is particularly notable for his dialogue, of which it has been said that it surpasses in verisimilitude that of just about all of his contemporaries, since they were medieval writers and often followed formulaic models for character and plot.

Reviews

[Lena]

This book is marvelous fun.

Look at the terrible things Circe (the temptress) made her captives do:

"With her wiles and charming words not only did she entice many who reached her shore to join in her wantonness: some she pushed into robbery and piracy; others she induced with her tricks to cast all honor aside and take up commerce and trading; many she made arrogant because they loved her inordinately." (p. 75)

GASP! She turned respectable men into merchants?? Oh the horror!

------------------------------------------------

So I've read parts of this book: although I think readers looking for Decameron-esque stories will be disappointed, Famous Women is still interesting in its own right. Essentially, it's an encyclopedia of famous (and infamous) women: the audience is meant to draw a moral lesson from their example. However, the modern reader will be further entertained by the amusing attitudes and anachronisms, as I hope my quote demonstrates.

To broaden his scope, Boccaccio included ancient goddesses along with contemporary women. His inclusion of purely legendary material allows him to trace the invention of writing, painting, and agriculture to a single woman. He follows the theory of 'euhemerism,' writing that mythical figures were once real individuals so revered in their lifetime, they later became worshiped as gods:

"Since all these people were blinded by the blackest ignorance, they declared this woman to be an immortal goddess, although they knew she had been born of a mortal woman." (p. 19-20)

Famous Women is also amusing for its blatant inconsistencies. Boccaccio tends to extract whatever moral lesson is convenient, regardless whether it clashes with earlier conclusions. In one story (p.92) he writes how a Vestal Virgin gave birth to Romulus and Remus, for which she was put to death; this gives him an opportunity to criticize families who force their daughters into covenants. But in a different story (p.82) (where he recalls Queen Dido's alleged suicide to protect her virginity), he criticizes women who do not remain chaste.

Overall, it's an entertaining kaleidoscope of legend and chronicle, of moralizing and classicizing sensibility. This book was widely read in its time; a French translation, Des Cleres Et Nobles Femmes, was Christine de Pizan's primary source for The City of Ladies.

And don't forget the many beautiful illuminations made of this book:


The Goddess Isis, also called Io, sailing towards Egypt

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh, what a particularly lovely collection of biographies of historical and mythological women!

Full list on Wikipedia, I absolutely adored the gorgeous illustrations depicting Painters, artist unfortunately unknown, top three favourites:

Iaia - famous for being a woman artist painting women's portraits.

Timarete - painting the goddess Diana on a panel that was kept at Ephesus, a city long associated with the goddess.

Eirene painting (potentially) a portrait of a gladiator on a gilded background.

[Jared Geraghty · Rating 1 out of 5]

To begin, I got a headache reading this which I believe sums up my experience with this book perfectly.
It’s just, not a fun read. I winced at the sexism that just saturated the book, and I know that it’s to be expected from the time it was written, but I just couldn’t believe the things Boccaccio said.
Honestly, to be famous in his eyes you must either be a virgin, devoted to god, “manly” so you can rise above the “inferior” sex (at which I cringed so hard) or give in to the “womanly” sins of lust and greed.
Needless to say, I did not like this book at all, but I did learn some new names that I may like to research from other, not sexist, sources, like Circe and Arsïnoe. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, but it felt great to finish it after the great torture I put myself through in reading it!

[Kelsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this for a class and throughout the book was looking for what society thought women should be at the time. This book was written by a man and so it was obviously biased. After just reading Cleopatra: A Lifeby Stacy Schiff, the chapter on Cleopatra was a nice comparison. Her story has been distorted and in Boccacio's world she was a whore, a temptress, and a sly, awful woman. One of the main morals I picked up on was it is better to die than be an impure woman. Oh how the times have changed! Not the easiest book to read, but Boccaccio at least tries to give women some justice, thus making it a thought provoking, sometimes funny read.

[Jessie Pietens · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I was not sure what I had expected of this book, it still disappointed me a bit. It was quite repetitive and fairly dry at times. Nevertheless it was an interesting historical source to read and I have learned about lots of historical women (both mythical and real) that I had never heard of before. Additionally I applaud any translator who keeps the original Latin text next to their translation. I enjoyed being able to compare and look at some of the translators choices. I Would recommend it if you are very much into the history of the discourse on women, though I would not recommend it to most, as I feel there are many more interesting titles on the subject to read.

[Stefani · Rating 3 out of 5]

What's not to adore about 14th century misogyny? So good.

Will say it was fun to read Isotta Nogarola before reading Boccaccio's description of Eve and thinking how Isotta would've destroyed him in a debate on female fame.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primarily of interest to historians and scholars of the Renaissance. The moralizing about chaste women gets old pretty quickly.

[Yann]

http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1...

[Hannah Trower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful prose. Boccaccio certainly knew how to tell a fine tale, and the translation is gorgeous, brimming with life. This is the first series of biographies in the Western tradition dedicated solely to women, and Boccaccio should get credit for that. But don't get me wrong, this is by no means a feminist work of literature. Boccaccio's stance on women is clearly that, by and large, they are devoted to vice and sillyness, hardly worth considering, but that when virtue does appear, it is all the more valuable for being present in one of the weaker sex. The women he chooses to include are interesting, telling us more about the preoccupations of his time than anything else. The women represented are famous, not necessarily virtuous, and there are plenty of "bad" women as moral examples to avoid, complementing the "good" women upheld as paragons. Most of the women are pagan and ancient examples, though a few are modern and Christian, and the list starts off with Eve. Above all, he praises women most when they embody the "manly" virtues of bravery and so forth. These stories are fun to read, and important to keep in mind when doing historical research, but the underlying implications are strongly those of a medieval society and not something we should strive to carry forth today. Warning for content of stories, including but not limited to rape, murder, and suicide, but such is par for the course when, for instance, such Roman women as Lucretia and Portia are held upon a pedestal.

[inge scheynen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even being a historian and fully aware of the fact this book was written in the 14th century, I could not bring myself to ignore the full blown misogynie. I can only hope that not every woman in Boccaccio's era had to endure this kind of disdain... Boccaccio even manages to turn a compliment into an insult: "If men should be praised whenever they perform great deeds (with strength which Nature has given them), how much more should women be extolled (almost all of whom are endowed with tenderness, frail bodies, and sluggish minds by Nature), if they have acquired a manly spirit...?" I hated every page of this book.

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains the lives of one hundred and six women in myth and history, ranging from Eve to Boccaccio’s contemporary, Queen Giovanna I of Naples. It is the first collection of women’s biographies ever written. In it Boccaccio decried the practice of sending women without vocation to nunneries. He intended the book to provide female readers with models of female lives fully lived. One of the many Latin works the author produced after his meeting with Petrarch, it was modeled on Petrarch's De Viris Illustribus.

[june · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had the opportunity to read this book in a class taught by an expert on midevil italian literature and this book was pleasantly easy to read as an introduction to this genre!

to some of the negative reviews…of course boccaccio’s views of the status of women at the time do not align with contemporary beliefs (it was written in the 14th century after all) but there is still so much to learn and analyze about this book.

this was a great introduction for me to boccaccio’s work and i can’t wait to read more in the future

[leeanna! · Rating 2 out of 5]

a fun book, but fun in the way that i hated it. boccaccio's analysis of women was so dumb. and i know that this is from a predominately christian time, but saying that venus and minerva were actually mortals is such an odd take. anyways. i have a lot of thoughts on this from class.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Renaissance misogyny. No thanks. I think I will restory this book now by finding pictures and realistic accounts of famous women and paste them into the pages.

[Roua Hwamdeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

For good or evil, as wife, mother. Or whore, these women have the splendid of clarity; Their individual destinies are sharply defined

[Lulu]

1361/2

De Mulieribus Claris is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more of a 2.5. Historically interesting but a bit of a slog at times.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. Boccaccio's misogyny can be a bit galling at times, but it's still worth reading for entertainment, not information.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good, bad and ugly of famous women in history and mythology. There is a lot to learn about renaissance attitudes towards women and their place in society. Some genuine heroines and some seriously dastardly ones too. The book is largely short accounts of literally hundreds of famous women. At times there are fascinating observations on courage, morality and duty in feminine character.

I enjoyed it.

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not like the author's portrayal of women. But it was an interesting look at the views of the times.

[Mills College Library]

920.72 B6642 2003

[Emília · Rating 5 out of 5]

woman harry styles

[Marielle Cruz]

interesting