Krystyna de Pizan. Księga o Mieście Pań
Christine de Pisan. The Book of the City of Ladies

Contributor(s): Anna Loba (Translator)
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, French Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: defence of women; famous women; feminism
Summary/Abstract: This book is a translation of one of the most important works by Christine de Pisan (1364–c. 1430), the first French writer to live thanks to her pen. Written between 1404 and 1407, the Book of the City of Ladies (Livre de la Cité des Dames) is a work devoted to defending women. In order to counter the misogynistic views put forward by philosophers and moralists, Christine de Pisan wrote a book with the construction of an allegorical city at its centre, and the lives of exceptional women, divided into different categories, are arranged like stones in this building. Through discussions with three allegorical female figures – Lady Reason, Lady Rectitude and Lady Justice, de Pisan presents arguments advanced against women, shares her doubts, expresses her fears, and received clear answers from her scholarly guides, supported by examples, which leave no doubt that women, like men, are virtuous and capable of creative work and great deeds. 

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