A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women, 1375–1650 trans. and ed. by Lisa Kaborycha (review)

This collection of Italian women's contributions to Renaissance and early modern epistolography actually spans the years 1375 to 1679, with a letter from Catherine of Sienna as the earliest entry, and one by Elena Lucrezia Corner Piscopia the latest. The majority of the fifty-five letters date from the 1530s and 1540s. Regarding geographical representation, Kaborycha has included missives by women from Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan, and Naples, as well as from "smaller cities and towns, the countryside and courts" (26). The volume thus works well as an introduction to Italian women's letters, illustrating the rich diversity of their purposes, audiences, and styles.

In her introduction, Kaborycha gives a brief history of letter-writing from the classical period through the Renaissance. She clarifies the differences among personal, official, and familiar letters, detailing examples of women's engagement in letter-writing in these categories, and notes that published letter collections by women "can be documented from the earliest years of printing" (17). She also addresses elements of the controversy regarding women's ability to write considering their occasional use of scribes and reminds us that women's vernacular literacy in much of Italy was "nearly as high as that of men" (14).

To further contextualize her material, Kaborycha observes that between 1538 and 1627, the "number of letter books published in Italy rose to 540, on average six books per year appearing," and she adds that "within less than a century nearly 40,000 letters were printed" (9). She credits Pietro Aretino with starting the popular trend of letter-book production. Moreover, she points out that Vittoria Colonna's poems were published in 1538, the same year as Aretino's first volume of letters, and argues that "the emergence of women's printed literary writings in the 1500s is only the tip of the iceberg" because "Italian women had been involved in vernacular written culture since at least the fourteenth century" (13).

The translations (there are no Italian transcriptions of the letters) are organized thematically. Chapters include, for example, "The Active Versus the Contemplative Life," "Governing the Household / Governing the State," "Love and Friendship," "Art: Patrons and Painters," and "Inquiring Minds: Science and Philosophy." A representative sample of the writers include, in addition to Catherine of Siena and Piscopia, Isotta Nogarola, Alessandra Macinghi Strozzi, Cassandra Chigi, Vittoria Colonna, Pandolfina Baglioni, Bartolomea degli Obizzi Alberti, Tullia d'Aragona, Veronica Franco, Isabella Andreini, Francesca Caccini, Sofonisba Anguissola, Celia Romana, and Virginia Galilei. It is important to note that each woman is represented only by one letter, but at the end of each chapter, Kaborycha includes a list of suggestions for further reading. Each translation is accompanied by a rich overview that includes biographical information about the writer, identification of the letter's intended recipient or general readership, and a detailed discussion of the letter's content.

The wide variety of letter-writers in this collection, including both very well-known figures and women known to history only through the letters presented here, is the strong suit of this volume. Kaborycha's engaging introductions to each woman help readers understand how her letter provides a window on specific aspects of the Renaissance and early modern world. The volume is useful for students, as well as for scholars of Renaissance and early modern Italy; and it will appeal to both specialists and non-specialists interested in the genre, the period, and women's history. In it, we find women writing to their mothers and fathers, their husbands and lovers, and their children, as well as to their sovereigns, their friends, and their spiritual and educational guides. Some letters are meant only to entertain; others illustrate women's important interventions in social and cultural processes, and yet others address life-or-death matters. All the letters offer fascinating glimpses into the historical context in which these women...