A new exploration of the complexities and resolutions at play in the
writings of Marguerite de Navarre, offering insights into how her work
reflected the turbulence, uncertainties, and assurances of her
historical period.
Marguerite de Navarre was a Renaissance princess, diplomat, and mystical
poet. She is arguably best known for The Heptameron, an answer to
Boccaccio's Decameron, a brilliant and open-ended collection of short
stories told by a group of men and women stranded in a monastery. The
stories explore love, desire, male and female honour, individual
salvation, and the iniquity of Franciscan monks, while the discussions
between the storytellers enact and embody the tensions, ideologies, and
prejudices underlying the stories.
Marguerite herself was deeply involved in the debates and conflicts of
her time. Her work reflects the turbulence, uncertainties, and
assurances of her historical period, as the Renaissance re-imagined the
past and the Reformation re-made the church, and represents her original
and sometimes provocative position on these questions.
This book presents The Heptameron and its investigations into gender
relations, the nature of love, and the nature of religious faith in the
context of the intellectual, religious, and political questions of the
sixteenth century, setting it alongside Marguerite's other writings: her
poetry, plays, and diplomatic letters. In chapters on communities,
religion, politics, gender relationships, desire, and literary
technique, it explores the complexities and resolutions of Marguerite's
writing and her world. It aims to offer a guide to the critical
tradition on Marguerite's work along with new readings of her texts,
revealing both the historical specificity of her writing and its
continuing relevance.
