A Narration of Female Experience: Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies

Öz

Christine de Pizan (1363/1364?-1430) is recognised as the first professional female writer who left a significant mark not only on medieval literature but also women’s writing tradition. Depending on personal and collective female experience, she becomes the writer of over a hundred literary pieces in which she deals with different aspects of women’s lives in the patriarchal society of the medieval period. Her oeuvre displays a struggle against the misogynistic confines that limit and imprison women into degraded positions. This study aims to explore one of her significant works, The Book of the City of Ladies (1404-1405), in which de Pizan gives an account of various women’s stories and their achievements from pagan times to Christian history. In this narration of the medieval dream vision genre, de Pizan strategically uses allegorical characters to initiate a discussion on misogynistic discourse and practices. While the work unveils a panorama of the female experience, it offers a narrative that challenges patriarchal power and dominance. This paper illustrates how de Pizan empowers women’s existence in her narration based on female experience and predates feminist writing before later generations of women writers.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Christine de Pizan
• The Book of the City of Ladies
• Medieval Society
• Misogyny
• Female Empowerment

Christine de Pizan’ın The Book of the City of Ladies Adlı Eserinde Kadın Deneyiminin Anlatımı

Öz

Christine de Pizan (1363/1364?-1430), sadece Orta Çağ edebiyatında değil aynı zamanda kadınların yazım geleneğinde önemli bir iz bırakan, ilk profesyonel kadın yazar olarak bilinir. Kişisel ve kolektif kadın deneyimine dayanarak, Orta Çağ döneminin ataerkil toplumunda kadınların yaşamının farklı yönlerini ele aldığı yüzlerce edebi eserin yazarı olmuştur. Eserleri, kadınları sınırlayan ve onları alçaltıcı durumlara hapseden ve kadın düşmanlığı sergileyen yapılara karşı mücadele ortaya koyar. Bu çalışma, pagan zamanlardan Hıristiyan tarihine farklı kadın hikayeleri ve başarılarını içeren de Pizan’ın önemli eserlerinden biri olan The Book of the City of Ladies (1404-1405) adlı çalışmasını irdelemeyi amaçlar. Bu Orta Çağ anlatı eserinde de, de Pizan alegorik karakterleri, kadın düşmanlığı söylemi ve uygulamaları hakkında bir tartışma başlatmak için stratejik biçimde kullanır. Eser kadınların deneyiminin panoramasını açığa çıkarırken, ataerkil güce ve hakimiyete meydan okuyan bir anlatı sunar. Bu çalışma de Pizan’ın kadın deneyimine dayanan anlatısında kadınların varlığını nasıl güçlendirdiğini ve sonraki kuşak kadın yazarlardan önce feminist yazımda öncü olduğunu gösterir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• kadınları güçlendirme
• Christine de Pizan
• The Book of the City of Ladies
• Orta Çağ Toplumu
• Kadın Düşmanlığı

Kaynakça

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