Christine de Pizan

In this engaging and lively study, Charlotte Cooper-Davis sees de Pizan as an "entrepreneur", a widow who turned to writing to support her family and maintain its status following the deaths of her father and husband, and who involved herself not only in the composition but also the production and circulation of her works. * History Today *
I love this . . . very reader friendly, it’s an important book for people to read especially if they’re interested in women’s history . . . Would recommend this to the broadest audience. * Danièle Cybulskie, The Medieval Podcast *
This readable and informative book places Christine de Pizan (c.1364–c.1431) in four wide contexts in as many chapters . . . The last and most original chapter surveys Christine’s presence in contemporary culture: works of visual art from several countries, video games in which she is transformed into a sorceress, Instagram, and her recent elevation to canonical status in the French agrégation. . . . Recommended. * Choice *
Engagingly written with ample, well-chosen illustrations, Cooper-Davis’s Christine de Pizan: Life, Work, Legacy provides a rich cultural and historical context for Christine’s works . . . this engaging, erudite, and wide-ranging book is a welcome addition to Christine studies that deserves a spot in our libraries and on our syllabi. -- Debora B.Schwartz * Medium Aevum *
A beautiful biography of a pioneering female French writer . . . This is a thorough and yet light study designed for general readers, but also likely to help specialists in this field that can benefit from an introductory text before diving further into a study of Christine’s writings. The images throughout are of top-quality. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *
This lively account of how Christine de Pizan came to write her famous works in defence of women vividly evokes late medieval Paris as the cultural backdrop against which she was writing and explores how her legacy lives on in modern feminist thought, contemporary art and even popular culture. * Rosalind Brown-Grant, Professor of Late Medieval French Literature, University of Leeds *
The works of Christine de Pizan, one of the most remarkable women of European literature, remain exciting and urgent in the twenty-first century. In this lively and fascinating account, Charlotte Cooper-Davis’s meticulous research and vivid prose paint an engaging, detailed picture of not only this talented author, but her social and literary context in medieval Paris. * Miranda Griffin, Lecturer in Medieval French, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Murray Edwards College *
Charlotte Cooper-Davis deftly shows how Christine’s prolific literary career depended on both her access to books and libraries and her first-hand experience in the Parisian book trade, where some of the most luxurious medieval manuscripts were made. Concluding with a look at how Christine’s work currently inspires artists and even animates popular culture, Christine de Pizan: Life, Work, Legacy is a portrait of a medieval woman for the ages. * Marilynn Desmond, Distinguished Professor, English and Medieval Studies, Binghamton University, New York *