The Androgyne in Early Modern France Contextualizing the Power of Gender [Hardcover]

Based on sources in Genesis and Plato's Symposium , the androygyne during Early Modern France was a means of expressing the full potential of humans made in the image of God. This book documents and comments on the range of references to the androgyne in the writings of poets, philosophers, courtiers, and women in positions of political power.

Scholars of early-modern French literature interested in gender have long been waiting for this volume and it does not disappoint. Marked by Rothsteins characteristic wry wit, expansive engagement with sources canonical and barely known, and distinctive account of early modern gender, the volume details the variety of ways in which the androgyne facilitated access to what she calls human plenitude. (Marc Schachter, H-France Review, Vol. 17 (226), December, 2017)

In this volume, Marian Rothstein builds on her earlier article-length investigations of the androgyne myths use in literary and political environments in early modern France. & Well written and documented, this work will become a standard for anyone interested in questions of gender in early modern France. (Jeff Kendrick, French Studies, Vol. 70 (4), October, 2016)

Marian Rothstein is Professor Emerita of French at Carthage College, USA. She is the author of Reading in the Renaissance: Amadis de Gaule and the Lessons of Memory and editor of Charting Change in Renaissance French Thought and Culture. Rothstein has written a masterful pre-history of the woman sovereign who could also act as a man by tracing the enabling figure of the classical and biblical androgyne through multiple strands of Renaissance culture. A magnificent feat of sleuthing that uncovers unsuspected wealth behind a recurring motif, this work tackles a real problem and makes a much-needed intervention in the topic of early modern gender. Written in confident and elegant prose, and laced with touches of wry humor, her book beautifully demonstrates how tlc/