Androgyny in Moderata Fonte’s Tredici canti del Floridoro

Year 2019, Volume: 36 Issue: 2, 369 - 382, 30.12.2019

Merve Aydoğdu Çelik

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.532911

Abstract

Moderata Fonte, who is one of the earliest female authors to write chivalric romance in Italy, participates in the debate
on women [querelle des femmes] with Il merito delle donne (1600). Tredici canti del Floridoro (1581), in which she
defends the worth of women and equality between sexes, also documents Fonte’s concern for female issues. Within
this framework, this paper aims to analyse Fonte’s protofeminism based upon the concept of androgyny. Drawing upon
her thought about women in Il merito delle donne (1600) within the framework of the Italian patriarchal social context,
it first discusses the social and theoretical implications of androgyny. It interprets the warrior heroine Risamante and
the titular hero Floridoro as representatives of the androgyne examining how they deconstruct their assigned gender
roles. It argues that Fonte utilizes androgyny to evince that there is no essential difference between sexes but the
cultural assumptions and practices produce a hierarchical relationship between women and men. It concludes that
Fonte, by means of androgyny, shatters rigid gender boundaries, and she advocates that both women and men should
benefit from education and they should be treated equally. Tredici canti del Floridoro, thereby, manifests Moderata
Fonte’s protofeminist opinion.

Keywords

Renaissance, Romance, Androgyny, Profeminism, Moderata Fonte

Moderata Fonte’nin Tredici canti del Floridoro’sunda Androjeni

Abstract

İtalya’da kahramanlık romanı yazan ilk kadın yazarlardan biri olan Moderata Fonte, Il merito delle donne (1600)
eseriyle kadınlarla ilgili tartışmalara [querelle des femmes] katılır. Kadının değerini ve cinsiyetler arası eşitliği
savunduğu eseri Tredici canti del Floridoro (1581) ise kadınlara ilişkin sorunlar hususundaki hassasiyetini kanıtlar
niteliktedir. Bu çerçevede, bu çalışma Fonte’nin androjeni kavramına dayanan protofeminist argümanını analiz etmeyi
amaçlar. İtalyan ataerkil toplum düzeni bağlamında Fonte’nin Il merito delle donne (1600) eserindeki kadınlar
hususundaki görüşlerinden hareketle, ilkin androjeninin sosyal ve teorik anlamlarını tartışır. Savaşçı kadın kahraman
Risamante ve esere adını veren erkek kahraman Floridoro’yu, atanmış toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini altüst etmelerinden
ötürü, androjeniyi temsil eden karakterler olarak değerlendirir. Fonte’nin, androjeni kavramından faydalanarak,
cinsiyetler arasında özsel bir fark olmadığını kanıtladığını, kadınlar ve erkekler arasında hiyerarşik bir ilişki üretenin
kültürel varsayımlar ve uygulamalar olduğunu savunur. Makalede, Moderata Fonte’nin androjeni aracılığıyla katı
toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini parçaladığı ve Tredici canti del Floridoro’da her iki cinsiyete de eşit eğitim hakkı verilmesi
ve cinsiyetler arasında eşitlik olması gerektiğini savunduğu sonucuna varılır. Bu bağlamda, Tredici canti del Floridoro,
Moderata Fonte’nin protofeminist görüşünü açıkça ortaya koymaktadır. 

Keywords

Rönesans, Romans, Androjeni, Profeminizm, Moderata Fonte

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