The Book of the City of Ladies and Other Writings Christine de Pizan,. Translated by Ineke Hardy, and edited by Sophie Bourgault, and Rebecca Kingston,. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 2018 (ISBN 13: 978-1-62466-729-9 )

The Book of the City of Ladies and Other Writings Christine de Pizan. Translated by Ineke Hardy and edited by Sophie Bourgault and Rebecca Kingston. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett, 2018 (ISBN 13: 978-1-62466-729-9)

In 1404, Christine de Pizan began writing The City of Ladies, a book that she hoped would serve as a citadel for women like her, women whom Fortune appeared to have abandoned to a world of misogyny that undermined women's trust in themselves, their virtues, and their ability to reason. In this book, Christine maintains that Reason, Rectitude, and Justice have urged her to create a catalog of stories of heroic women in order that, in knowing them, she and other women might take courage in their own abilities and merits. Her book was meant to be read and internalized as a shield worn upon the heart, protecting women with an invisible fortress as they sought to support themselves, their families, and their nation-states. Christine would no doubt recognize that such armor is still necessary today when women continue to be underrepresented in the literary and philosophical canon as well as in the history books, and when women too often remain afraid to raise their voices in protest. Hackett's edition of this work, featuring Ineke Hardy's readable and engaging translation, provides the new student and the established scholar with easy access to Christine's citadel. Furthermore, the Hackett volume gives the reader a suitable introduction to the life, works, and importance of Christine de Pizan's thought.

Sophie Bourgault and Rebecca Kingston's Introduction to the volume offers the reader a substantive account of Christine's life in the context of her times and a fine summary of the corpus of her works. In doing so, the editors present Christine to their readers (as Christine presented important women to her readers) in order to cement her place as a foundational figure in the canon. Demonstrating Christine's breadth of knowledge of classical and medieval sources, Bourgault and Kingston ironically spend more time proving that Christine had mastered the canon of male authors she quotes (for example, Augustine, Aristotle, Ovid, Boccaccio, Boethius) than highlighting Christine's insistence on the importance and unique influence of women in poetry, philosophy, science, and politics. Nonetheless, the editors certainly make a robust...