Strong voices, weak history : early women writers and canons in England, France, and Italy

Strong Voices, Weak History presents the first comparative history of major medieval and Renaissance European women writers in their relationship to national canons of literature. Challenging the notion of an oppressive patriarchy that discouraged women from writing and publishing, the fifteen essays collected here examine women's participation in fashionable male literary modes, trace their creation of female canons, and explore the history of their reception, from the fifteenth century to the present. Wide in geographical and temporal scope, the book will be an important resource for students of English, French, and Italian literary studies, gender studies, canon formation, and the history of the book. Pamela Joseph Benson is Professor of English at Rhode Island College. Victoria Kirkham is Professor of Romance Languages at The University of Pennsylvania.