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

by Margaret F. Rosenthal (Author)

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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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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; 1st edition (February 1, 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 408 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226728129
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226728124
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.36 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.99 x 6.09 x 1.07 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #734,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #704 in Gender Studies (Books)
- #1,100 in Italian History (Books)
- #1,548 in European History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
82 ratings

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5 star		60%
4 star		19%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		5%

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Ele Pranaityte

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

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2017

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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.

8 people found this helpful

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tmd

Scholarly account of a Dangerous Beauty

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2014

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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.

10 people found this helpful

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BaRkiNg MaD

An Interesting Text Book, But...

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2014

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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.

4 people found this helpful

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Sunny

Amazing poet

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2019

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Incredible work

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

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

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2016

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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 women. One of the first feminists to take control of her life. Very inspiring, but quite a tough life.

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SUSANNE HIBBERT

A woman ahead of her times

Reviewed in the United States on 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....

3 people found this helpful

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Rodolfo Partida_R.

Well documented academic work.

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2019

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A serious study, but do not expect a novel; it's an academic work.

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S. Deneff

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

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016

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

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Roman Clodia

First full account of Veronica Franco in English

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2009

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Veronica Franco, beautiful Venetian courtesan and accomplished poet, may be best known as Catherine McCormack's character in the film Dangerous Beauty [DVD] [1998 ]. However, the real woman was far more provocative, challenging and engaging than anything the film could imagine.

Rosenthal takes a wide view and places Franco within her historical, cultural, literary and economic milieu with breathless ease and fine judgement. Not a biography, although it does include biographical elements (such as they can be retrieved), not a book of literary criticism, not a history book, it combines elements of all these to give us a three-dimensional view not just of Franco but of the possibility for Venetian women to subvert the rules and pressures of Venetian patriachism.

Although this does contain examples of Franco's writings, it would be best read alongside the collection edited by Rosenthal Poems and Selected Letters (Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) .

Franco is a fascinating woman, and Rosenthal does a fine job of making her accessible to a non-Italian audience.

11 people found this helpful

crocnaz

Great Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2014

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Beautifully written account of a truly talented Courtesan. Rosenthal's vivid description of the era and circumstances surrounding her life are also very interesting.

3 people found this helpful

GingerT

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2018

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Arrived two days earlier than expected. Thanks

donall de roiste

but still an excellent read. Well worth it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2017

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A little too much focus on the writings of this woman rather than the tribulations of her life, but still an excellent read. Well worth it.

Barbara Ludwig

Ein hervorragendes wissenschaftliches Werk

Reviewed in Germany on January 4, 2014

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Mein Exemplar von „The Honest Courtesan – Veronica Franco“ ist schon ganz abgegriffen. Dieses hervorragende wissenschaftliche Buch diente und dient mir als Grundlage für meine Romane (erster Teil einer Trilogie: Venedigs dichtende Kurtisane Veronica Franco – Liebesglück). Margaret F. Rosenthal stellt das Werk der Franco in Kontext zum Leben und zu den Beziehungen dieser interessanten Frau der Renaissance. Hochachtung.
Schade, dass sich kein Verlag die Mühe macht, dieses einmalige Zeitzeugnis in Deutsch herauszubringen.
Gut hingegen, dass ich es als E-Book jetzt auch zu meinen Recherche- Reisen mitnehmen kann, ohne zu schleppen.

One person found this helpful

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