Christine S Vision

Originally published in 1993, this book offers a translation of Christine de Pizan's Christine's Vision, as translated by Glenda K. McLeod. One of France's first professionl writers, Christine de Pizan wrote a large and remarkable body of work, distinguished not only for its variety and quality but also for its unusual blend of introspective and public commentary. As Christine's Vision makes clear, Christine sensed the similarities between her fate and France's and felt a close bond with her adopted land.

This title was first published in 2002: Christine de Pizan held no political office and her work was not influencial on any political theorist living today. However, in the disciplines of women's studies and French literature she has inspired intellectual debate, so much that the two sides of the debate are referred to as Christinophiles and Christinoclasts. This book persents the political paradoxes of Christine de Pizan. She was a woman in a man's world, an Italian at a French court, and the daughter of a civil servant in a world structured by social class. Her corpus of political works include five works designed to educate the male ruling class, two works expressly princesses and a treatise on warfare. The goal of this book is to outline the political theory of Christine de Pizan and situate her ideas within the history of political ideas in general.

Translation of Christine's autobiographical "Vision", both dealing with her own life and career, and offering a possible solution to the troubled state of France at the time.

Christine had shared everything with Jennifer. There was a moment of silence as the two women considered all that Christine had confessed. Jennifer could see that Christine still felt a great amount of love for Bo. "Christine, there is one question you must still be able to answer." Christine knew what Jennifer was pointing to. "Christine, if you see Bo Wyoming again, and he asks you to forgive him for the last twenty-four years, and that he still is in love with you, what will you say?" Christine had considered this very question throughout the last twenty-four years, especially over the past two or three years. She answered Jennifer very slowly as if to think through each word she spoke. "I am no longer a young girl in love with a budding hero. I've seen a lot, I've experienced a lot these past twenty-four years. In some ways, I am happy with my life today. Yet I admit, that I have been lonely for many years. I have never lost my love for Bo even though I have no idea how he feels about me." "But what if he tells you that he still loves you Christine? What will you do then?" "I hope that I am strong enough to tell him that I still love him very much. That I have always loved him and that I have never loved anyone else." Jennifer was pressing now but seemed to realize that Christine wanted to confront what might very well happen. "Christine, if Bo asks you to marry him, will you?" Christine had come to the end of the road. Jennifer was only asking what Christine had dreamed about. "Jennifer, so many years have gone by, and we have lived such different lives." "Christine, will you marry Bo Wyoming if he proposes to you?" Christine knew her answer.

Presented here are four epic history plays from Sir Arnold Wesker, which touch on the age-old conflicts caused by religion, science and the Establishment. Set in the Jewish ghetto of Venice, 1563, Shylock (1972) is based on the same three stories from which Shakespeare wove his play, The Merchant of Venice. The core plot remains, but the relationships and characterisations are very different. Caritas (1980) is at once the story of a monastic young woman in the fourteenth century but also a metaphor for the wrong decisions which can imprison us for life. In 1144 a young boy was found brutally murdered in Thorpe Wood. The Jews were accused of slaughtering a Christian child touse his blood for Passover and mock the crucifixion. Blood Libel (1991) investigates a calumny which persists to this day. Meanwhile Longitude (2002) tells of the eighteenth-century race to accurately measure longitude – and claim a £20,000 reward from Parliament.

Theorizing the Ideal Sovereign, examines the ways in which vernacular biographies of kings from the later French Middle Ages reflected and contributed to transformations in late-medieval political and philosophical thought. Using a lens of literary analysis for works that have more often been read as historical source documents, Daisy Delogu demonstrates how theories of kingship evolved in the period of the "rediscovery" of Aristotle, the rise of the vernacular as a language of ethics and philosophy, and the Hundred Years' War. By means of a series of close readings of Jean de Joinville's Vie de Saint Louis, Guillaume de Machaut's Prise d'Alixandre, and Christine de Pizan's biography of Charles V, Delogu examines the ways in which biographical writings on kings could advance precise political aims. She also shows how these texts contributed to nascent ideas of nationhood, exerted pressure upon traditional ideals of kingship, and ultimately redefined the theoretical and practical bases of medieval kingship. This study of vernacular kings's lives illuminates the important role that literary works played in shaping ideas more traditionally discussed in legal, historical, or institutional terms. Theorizing the Ideal Sovereign restores late medieval kings's lives to ethical and political conversations of which they were an integral part, and revives the lively interaction between texts and readers that formed the basis for medieval reading experiences.

Although courtly literature is often associated with a chivalrous and idyllic life, the fifteen original essays in this collection demonstrate that the quest for love in the world of medieval courtly literature was underpinned by violence. Lovers were rejected, mistrust ruled, rape was a rampant problem, and marriage was often characterized by brutality. Albrecht Classen brings together an outstanding group of historical, cultural, and literary scholars in this volume to investigate the complicated, nuanced, and often surprising unions of love and violence in courtly medieval literature.

Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present provides a concise and authoritative overview of the development of Western literary criticism and theory from the Classical period to the present day An indispensable and intellectually stimulating introduction to the history of literary criticism and theory Introduces the major movements, figures, and texts of literary criticism Provides historical context and shows the interconnections between various theories An ideal text for all students of literature and criticism