Arcangela Tarabotti, a 17th century nun
who wrote and published extensively about the subjugation of women and
condemned the practice of forcing girls into convents, is considered an
early feminist who is best known today for her secular writing.
But Tarabotti also wrote about religion, and Meredith Ray, associate
professor of Italian at UD, hopes a new
translation of the nuns devotional works will give scholars an
additional perspective on her life and her writing.
Ray, who also teaches courses in women and gender studies, and her
longtime collaborator, Lynn Lara Westwater of George Washington
University, have received a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH) to support their work on the book.
She [Tarabotti] is truly an amazing figure, and we were so thrilled
to have the NEH recognize that, said Ray, who has collaborated with
Westwater for almost two decades. Ironically, although she was a nun,
the least studied aspect of her writing has been her devotional work.
With this grant, were going to translate and contextualize those
writings, and we hope to fill in some of this missing piece of her.
The $190,000 grant begins in January, when Ray and Westwater plan to
conduct some archival research in Venice to learn more about Tarabotti
and then begin work on the translation of selected writings. The
resulting book is to be part of the series The Other Voice in Early
Modern Europe, now co-published by Iter Academic Press and the Arizona
Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
Tarabotti was not well-known until the last few decades, Ray said,
but she is now studied in a range of disciplines, from political science
to women and gender studies. Forced into a convent in Venice, where she spent the rest of her
life, she was able to educate herself and become a prolific writer on a
variety of subjects. Surprisingly, she was able to have much of her work published, a rarity for a woman and especially for a nun, Ray said.
Tarabottis first work, Convent Paradise, was a religious
work, and its believed that she used the more conventional subject
matter to become known as a writer and to make inroads into publishing.
She chose something that would be more acceptable so that she could
get support and permission to publish, Ray said, adding that
Tarabottis work does not simply praise religious life. Her point was
that such a life can be paradise if a person chooses it but not if she
is forced into it.
Tarabotti also wrote such works as Paternal Tyranny and The Convent Hell, both published after her death.
Ray and Westwater also plan to study a shorter work in which
Tarabotti mourns the death of one of her few friends in the convent, a
truly religious woman named Regina Don??. Those writings explore themes
about friendship and faith, Ray said.
According to the NEH, its Scholarly Editions and Translations grants
support the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing
texts and documents of value to the humanities that are currently
inaccessible or available in inadequate editions. Ray said that
description reflects a goal that she and Westwater have.
We hope to make Tarabotti better known and her writings more
accessible, she said. Wed like to see her studied and taught more
widely.
