"Now a New Kingdom of Femininity Is Begun...": The Political Theory of Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies
In: Women & politics, Band 20, Heft 4, S. 23-47
ISSN: 0195-7732
Though it has been virtually ignored by historians of political thought, Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies (1405) is the first work of political theory on the grand scale by a woman. It is a serious analysis of the nature of political reality, & offers a remedy common in the Western political tradition -- the creation of a kallipolis, a utopian "city in words," to serve as a guide to political thought & practice. Though written in the form of a medieval allegory, The Book of the City of Ladies is remarkably modern in its elevation of individual reason, its analysis & critique of the social construction of private & public gender roles, & its hard-headed analysis of the use of power in political life. The book functions as a manual for princesses, in fact, as a manual of empowerment for all women, & in its substance & its use of esoteric literary techniques can be fruitfully compared to Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. 31 References. Adapted from the source document.