2021 - NeMLA - De mulieribus claris: A New and Humanistic Portrait of Women (original) (raw)

Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris is the first collection of the biographies of female secular historical figures in Western literature, as well as a revolutionary work of fiction and a cultural artifact that established new ways of representing women in writing.1 My study seeks to demonstrate that Giovanni Boccaccio is the first European author to portray women realistically in his writings, especially in comparison with the technique of cataloguing brief biographies of women during the Middle Ages. Rather than idealized women or pure metaphorical representations, Boccaccio’s female characters are creatures of flesh and blood. In this respect, the De mulieribus marks a cultural shift away from a stereotypical depiction of women, making it possible to cast women in a new light: multifaceted, more intimately psychologized and human, and inspired by civic humanism.