The Book of the City of Ladies (Penguin Classics)
by Christine de Pizan, Rosalind Brown-Grant

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Book Reviews of The Book of the City of Ladies (Penguin Classics)

Book Review: "Une généalogie au féminin"
Summary: 5 Stars

It is filled with many interesting stories from ancient times to Christine's own time, which also makes the book a pretty entertaining (and sometimes even humorous) account of the historic figures it discusses. Christine herself was an amazing person, so if you buy it, be sure not to skip the introduction - especially if you are unfamiliar with medieval writings: Some of the ideas presented (and how they are presented) are much different than how we would think in modern times, so it is important to familiarize yourself with things like massive over-proving (which may end up being tedious to the unsuspecting reader), Christine's view on marriage, and literary conventions that would perhaps seem very silly to us now, but worked well 600 years ago. Basically, when reading this book, if you keep in mind the context in which it was written, you should be able to appreciate it and like it just as I have.

(by the way -- the book I read was not the Penguin edition, but rather the 1998 English translation by Earl Richards, ISBN 0892552301, so unless you're planning on extensive criticism, you should be okay with this version).

Classics Books

• Books > Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• World Literature > French
• Education & Reference
• Women's Studies > Women Writers