The Honest Courtesan: Veronica Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth-Century Venice (Women in Culture and Society) 1st Edition

by Margaret F. Rosenthal (Author)

33 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0226728124

ISBN-10: 0226728129

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The Venetian courtesan has long captured the imagination as a female symbol of sexual license, elegance, beauty, and unruliness. What then to make of the cortigiana onesta—the honest courtesan who recast virtue as intellectual integrity and offered wit and refinement in return for patronage and a place in public life? Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was such a woman, a writer and citizen of Venice, whose published poems and familiar letters offer rich testimony to the complexity of the honest courtesan's position.

Margaret F. Rosenthal draws a compelling portrait of Veronica Franco in her cultural social, and economic world. Rosenthal reveals in Franco's writing a passionate support of defenseless women, strong convictions about inequality, and, in the eroticized language of her epistolary verses, the seductive political nature of all poetic contests. It is Veronica Franco's insight into the power conflicts between men and women—and her awareness of the threat she posed to her male contemporaries—that makes her literary works and her dealings with Venetian intellectuals so pertinent today.

Combining the resources of biography, history, literary theory, and cultural criticism, this sophisticated interdisciplinary work presents an eloquent and often moving account of one woman's life as an act of self-creation and as a complex response to social forces and cultural conditions.

"A book . . . pleasurably redolent of Venice in the 16th-century. Rosenthal gives a vivid sense of a world of salons and coteries, of intricate networks of family and patronage, and of literary exchanges both intellectual and erotic."—Helen Hackett, Times Higher Education Supplement

The Honest Courtesan is the basis for the film Dangerous Beauty (1998) directed by Marshall Herskovitz. (The film was re-titled The Honest Courtesan for release in the UK and Europe in 1999.)

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Poems and Selected Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) (English and Italian Edition) by Veronica Franco Paperback $25.20
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Product details

Series: Women in Culture and Society
Paperback: 408 pages
Publisher: University of Chicago Press; 1 edition (February 1, 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226728129
ISBN-13: 978-0226728124
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 33 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1032 in Books > History > Europe > Italy
- #1590 in Books > Textbooks > Social Sciences > Gender Studies
- #3435 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Europe

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Ele Pranaityte

but most of stuff ran out of print in like 1985, so good luck getting any

November 12, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book is unreadable. There is hardly any chronology of Veronica's life presented, the author writes as if the reader is familiar with Veronica very well. The main focus of the book is translations of Veronica's writings from Italian into English and then the author paraphrases them again for whatever reason it may be. It is a study of Veronica's writings but not her life and times, so it is wrongly described on the cover and on this website. If you want to really find out more about Venice of her time, there are lists of book that make up 1/3 of this book, but most of stuff ran out of print in like 1985, so good luck getting any. I am glad I bought it second hand because it is not worth the full price. I am now looking into reselling it.

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tmd

Scholarly account of a Dangerous Beauty

November 17, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Written as a scholarly account of the life of Veronica Franco. Some may find the reading a bit dry, but there is a lot of information in this book that gives us insight into the world that Franco lived in and the attitudes towards courtesans during the 16th century. Very, very interesting. I am grateful to the author for providing translations of many of Veronica's written works, including letters and poems. Veronica was quite a woman for her time. If you want to know the true story of this Dangerous Beauty (after seeing the Hollywood production of her life), this is where you will find it.

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BaRkiNg MaD

An Interesting Text Book, But...

May 31, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I bought this hoping it would have more of Veronica Franco's poetry and be somewhat more biographical. As I am not a Women's Studies student, I had to pick through much of the dissertation to get to what I really wanted to know about this fascinating woman's life. It's almost impossible to find anything for the non-student about Veronica Franco. Since that is the case, this book will have to do...for now.

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Jean Taylor-Starr Pace

Book

January 20, 2013

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This book is the basis for the movie 'Dangerous Beauty' which is an excellent movie. The book is a little dry but has much of interest when you've already seen the movie.

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G. R. Babineau

Sexual illumination--see along with film "Dangerous Beauty."

April 23, 2015

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A must is to see the movie "Dangerous Beauty" which was loosely but brilliantly made from the book.It is liberating to read bout the closeted sexual practices of the past.

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SUSANNE HIBBERT

A woman ahead of her times

September 5, 2015

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Read it twice. Had it "taken" from someone I trusted. Learned my lesson well. Loved this gallant lady of the people. Book is a real life story of Veronica Franco and forbidden love....... along the lines of Dangerous Beauty....

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Snert

I was disappointed n this book simply because it was a thesis ...

August 20, 2014

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I was disappointed n this book simply because it was a thesis of Franco's writing more than a good biography of her. While some of it was interesting I became very bored with it.

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Harry De Leon

If you saw the movie Dangerous Beauty, this is ...

December 9, 2014

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If you saw the movie Dangerous Beauty, this is the book that goes with it. The movie is a sleeper. must see.

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Most recent customer reviews

Amazon Customer

and Veronica Franco stood up to the all the hate against women

very interesting and informative. Especially considering the age of time (1500s) in which women were considered property, and Veronica Franco stood up to the all the hate against...Read more

Published 1 year ago

S. Deneff

I was disappointed because much of it was not about the courtesan

This is non fiction. I was disappointed because much of it was not about the courtesan.

Published 1 year ago

Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Great historical account

Published 1 year ago

DRR

Amazing monograph.

This book was assigned to my Early Modern European History class. It's a wonderful monograph (which is a research book written on a single subject pertaining to history) with in...Read more

Published on April 12, 2016

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Plenty of information about Veronica Franco, who I really admire. Brave woman !!

Published on April 1, 2016

Earl Cherry Jr

Wonderful insight into the world of 16th century Venice

Wonderful insight into the world of 16th century Venice. A bit on the scholarly side, but still entertaining. Read it and then see the movie Dangerous Beauty, or vice versa.Read more

Published on May 9, 2015

Martin Amance

very good historical book

prompt shipping, very good historical book, made the film very enjoyable

Published on May 1, 2015

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