Overview

This is the first bilingual annotated edition of two landmark autobiographies by late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Italian women poets. In 1826 Angela Veronese, a gardener's daughter, wrote and published the first modern autobiography by an Italian woman. Veronese's account focuses on her unique experience as a peasant girl who came of age among the Venetian elite, and details how she attained a certain renown in and out of Italy by improvising, writing, and publishing her own lyrics. Courting Celebrity is a bilingual annotated edition of Veronese's autobiography. To better elucidate Veronese's thinking, the book includes the autobiographical writing of another contemporary Italian poet, Teresa Bandettini, a well-known Tuscan poet-improviser. The book offers a substantial sample of Veronese's poems, translated and in the original. These compositions, together with detailed bibliographical documentation, point to the success of Veronese's autobiographical enterprise and offer an unparalleled view of both high society and popular culture at the time. In doing so, this text illustrates women's practice in two key literary genres, poetry and autobiography, and illuminates the strategies of women's self-fashioning and pursuit of celebrity.

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9781487546403

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Reviews

The publication of the autobiographies of Angela Veronese and Teresa Bandettini, both in their original and in translation, will broaden the scholarly perspective on eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century life writing. Worthy of high praise, this book will also benefit graduate and undergraduate students by providing them with a deeper understanding of the pivotal contribution of women writers to the making of the autobiographical genre. - Stefania Buccini, Halls-Bascom Professor of Italian, University of Wisconsin-Madison This important edition of Angela Veronese's autobiography and poetry, including English translations and a significant critical apparatus, provides a lively portrait of cultural life in the early nineteenth century that will appeal to a wide audience. Featuring many prominent literary figures active in Northern Italy in the period, it stands as a vital resource for students of Italian literature, literary scholars, and historians interested in women authors and intellectual culture. - Susan Dalton, Associate Professor of History, Universite de Montreal

"""This important edition of Angela Veronese's autobiography and poetry, including English translations and a significant critical apparatus, provides a lively portrait of cultural life in the early nineteenth century that will appeal to a wide audience. Featuring many prominent literary figures active in Northern Italy in the period, it stands as a vital resource for students of Italian literature, literary scholars, and historians interested in women authors and intellectual culture.""--Susan Dalton, Associate Professor of History, Université de Montréal ""The publication of the autobiographies of Angela Veronese and Teresa Bandettini, both in their original and in translation, will broaden the scholarly perspective on eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century life writing. Worthy of high praise, this book will also benefit graduate and undergraduate students by providing them with a deeper understanding of the pivotal contribution of women writers to the making of the autobiographical genre.""--Stefania Buccini, Halls-Bascom Professor of Italian, University of Wisconsin-Madison"

Author Information

Adrienne Ward is an associate professor emerita of Italian at the University of Virginia. Irene Zanini-Cordi is an associate professor of Italian at Florida State University. Adrienne Ward is an associate professor emerita of Italian at the University of Virginia. Irene Zanini-Cordi is an associate professor of Italian at Florida State University.

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