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Informationen zum Autor Edited and with an Introduction by Estelle B. Freedman Klappentext Including: Susan B. Anthony Simone de Beauvoir W.E.B. Du Bois Hélène Cixous Betty Friedan Charlotte Perkins Gilman Emma Goldman Guerrilla Girls Ding Ling • Audre Lorde John Stuart Mill Christine de Pizan Adrienne Rich Margaret Sanger Huda Shaarawi • Sojourner Truth Mary Wollstonecraft Virginia Woolf The Essential Feminist Reader is the first anthology to present the full scope of feminist history. Prizewinning historian Estelle B. Freedman brings decades of teaching experience and scholarship to her selections, which span more than five centuries. Moving beyond standard texts by English and American thinkers, this collection features primary source material from around the globe, including short works of fiction and drama, political manifestos, and the work of less well-known writers. Freedman's cogent Introduction assesses the challenges facing feminism, while her accessible, lively commentary contextualizes each piece. The Essential Feminist Reader is a vital addition to feminist scholarship, and an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of women. Leseprobe Christine de Pizan (1365-c. 1430) The Book of the City of Ladies (France, 1405) For centuries, European writers grappled with the querelles desfemmes, or the "woman question," in response to the work of Christine de Pizan. At a time when both the Catholic Church andmedieval states reinforced patriarchal authority in the family, dePizan questioned the biblical and natural justifications for men'srule over women. Whether cursed by the sin of Eve or presumed to be intellectually as well as physically weaker then men, women generally did not merit education. During the Renaissance, however, women whowished to extend humanist ideas about the importance of education to their own sex defended female intellectual capacity. Born in Veniceand raised in Paris, Christine de Pizan read widely in the subjects ofphilosophy and science (her father was a scholar). When she became ayoung widow, she put her education to good use, supporting her family as a writer. In Epistre au dieu d'Amours (Poems of Cupid, God ofLove) (1399), she defended Eve. In The Book of the City of Ladies, thecharacters Christine converses with are three Ladies-Reason, Rectitude, and Justice-who refute contemporary theories of female inferiority. The Ladies also catalogue the learned women of the Bibleand of classical myth, as well as the women who illustrate female intellectual capability in history. Over the next six hundred years, feminists continued to place female education at the foundation oftheir quest to achieve women's full humanity. One day as I was sitting alone in my study surrounded by books on all kinds of subjects, devoting myself to literary studies, my usual habit, my mind dwelt at length on the weighty opinions of various authors whom I had studied for a long time. I looked up from my book,having decided to leave such subtle questions in peace and to relax by reading some light poetry. With this in mind, I searched for some small book. By chance a strange volume came into my hands, not one of my own, but one which had been given to me along with some others.When I held it open and saw from its title page that it was by Mathéolus, I smiled, for though I had never seen it before, I had often heard that like other books it discussed respect for women. I thought I would browse through it to amuse myself. I had not been reading for very long when my good mother called me to refresh myself with some supper, for it was evening. Intending to look at it the next day, I put it down. The next morning, again seated in my study as was my habit, I remembered wanting to examine this book by Mathéolus. I started to read it and went on for a little while. Because the subject seemed to me not very pleasant for peop...
