Selected Writings of an Eighteenth-Century Venetian Woman of Letters (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

272 Pages·2003·0.78 MB·English

by  Elisabetta Caminer Turra

SELECTED WRITINGS OF AN
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
VENETIAN WOMAN OF LETTERS
THE
OTHER VOICE
IN
EARLY MODERN
EUROPE
A Series Edited by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr.
RECENT BOOKS IN THE SERIES
CASSANDRA FEDELE FRANÇOIS POULLAIN DE LA BARRE
Letters and Orations Three Cartesian Feminist Treatises
Edited and Translated by Diana Robin Introductions and Annotations by Marcelle
Maistre Welch
MARIE LE JARS DE GOURNAY Translation by Vivien Bosley
“Apology for the Woman Writing” and
Other Works SISTER BARTOLOMEA RICCOBONI
Edited and Translated by Richard Hillman and Life and Death in a Venetian Convent:
Colette Quesnel The Chronicle and Necrology of
Corpus Domini, 1395–1436
ANNIBAL GUASCO Edited and Translated by Daniel Bornstein
Discourse to Lady Lavinia His Daughter
Edited, Translated, and with an Introduction MARÍA DE SAN JOSÉ SALAZAR
by Peggy Osborn Book for the Hour of Recreation
Introduction and Notes by Alison Weber
ANNE-MARIE-LOUISE D’ORLÉANS, Translation by Amanda Powell
DUCHESSE DE MONTPENSIER
Against Marriage: The Correspondence of MADELEINE DE SCUDÉRY
La Grande Mademoiselle The Story of Sapho
Edited and Translated by Joan DeJean Translated and with an Introduction by
Karen Newman
OLYMPIA MORATA
The Complete Writings of an LUCREZIA TORNABUONI DE’ MEDICI
Italian Heretic Sacred Narratives
Edited and Translated by Holt N. Parker Edited and Translated by Jane Tylus
JACQUELINE PASCAL JUAN LUIS VIVES
“A Rule for Children” and “The Education of a Christian Woman”:
Other Writings A Sixteenth-Century Manual
Edited and Translated by John J. Conley, S.J. Edited and Translated by Charles Fantazzi
Elisabetta Caminer Turra
S E L E C T E D W R I T I N G S O F A N
E I G H T E E N T H - C E N T U RY
V E N E T I A N W O M A N O F L E T T E R S
(cid:1)
Edited and Translated
by Catherine M. Sama
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Chicago & London
Elisabetta Caminer Turra, 1751–96
Catherine M. Samais assistant professor of Italian at the University
of Rhode Island.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2003 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2003
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 0-226-81767-9 (cloth)
ISBN: 0-226-81768-7 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Caminer Turra, Elisabetta, 1751–1796.
[Selections. English. 2003]
Selected writings of an eighteenth-century Venetian woman of letters /
Elisabetta Caminer Turra ; edited and translated by Catherine M. Sama.
p.cm. — (The other voice in early modern Europe)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-226-81767-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-226-81768-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Caminer Turra, Elisabetta, 1751–1796—Correspondence. I. Sama,
Catherine M. II. Title. III. Series.
PQ4684.C44 A27 2003
858'.609—dc21
2003005006
oThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
To the memory of Elisabetta Caminer Turra, in appreciation of
her intellect, courage, and persevering spirit

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
Series Editors’ Introduction xiii
List of Abbreviations xxxv
Volume Editor’s Introduction 1
Volume Editor’s Bibliography 75
Part I
The Making of a Woman of Letters
in the Eighteenth-Century Veneto
1. Poem on Ambition and the Passing of Time (1763) 97
2. Poem for Alberto Fortis on Their Friendship (1768) 98
3. Letter to Lazzaro Spallanzani (1769) 99
4. Letter to Lazzaro Spallanzani (1769) 100
5. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1769) 101
6. Poem for a Friend on Love’s Disillusionments (1770) 102
7. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1770) 103
8. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1770) 105
9. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1770) 105
10. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1770) 106
11. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1770) 107
12. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1770) 108
13. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 109
14. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 110
15. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 111
16. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 111
17. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 112
18. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 113
19. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1771) 114
20. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1771) 116
21. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 117
22. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 118
23. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1771) 120
24. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1771) 120
25. Preface to Composizioni teatrali moderne tradotte
(Modern Theatrical Compositions in Translation)(1772) 121
26. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1772) 130
27. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1772) 132
28. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1772) 133
29. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1772) 134
30. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1772) 134
31. Letter to Giuseppe Gennari (1772) 136
32. Review of the Final Volume of Composizioni teatrali
moderne tradotte(1772–73) 136
33. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1773) 138
34. Poem for a Friend on Infinite Tedium (1773) 139
35. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1773) 140
36. Letter to Giuseppe Pelli Bencivenni (1774) 141
37. Letter to Lazzaro Spallanzani (1777) 142
38. Fly Sheet for the Giornale enciclopedicoin Vicenza (1777) 143
39. Polemic with a Reader from Vicenza (1777) 146
40. Letter to Clemente Vannetti (1779) 151
41. Letter to Michele Sorgo (Miho Sorkocˇevi´c) (1779) 153
42. Letter to Clemente Vannetti (1780) 155
43. Letter to Clemente Vannetti (1780) 157
44. Letter to Alberto Fortis (1780) 157
45. Letter to Aurelio de’ Giorgi Bertòla (1780) 158
46. Letter to Clemente Vannetti (1781) 160
47. Letter to Lazzaro Spallanzani (1789) 161
48. Letter to Lazzaro Spallanzani (1792) 163
49. Letter to an Unidentified Recipient (1796) 164
Part II
Women and Society
The Intellectual Life
1. On Why Women Write Differently from Men (1769) 165
2. On Exceptional Women (1769) 167
3. Poem in Honor of Caterina Dolfin Tron (1773) 183
4. On a Critique of The Scourge of Humanity(1786) 184
5. On the Error of Exalting Some Women by Insulting Others (1790) 185
6. On Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman(1792–93) 188
7. On an Encomium of Isabella Teotochi Marini: The Original and
the Portrait (1793) 189
8. On the Excessive Modesty of a Learned Woman (1794) 190
Fashion
1. Letter to Agostino Vivorio (1776) 190
2. Review of the New Fashion Supplement to the Tuscan Gazette(1777) 191
3. Review of Clemente Bondi’s Poem on Fashion (1778) 193
4. Review of the Milanese Journal of the Ladies and
Fashions of France (1786) 197
5. Review of the Venetian Fashion Periodical The Gallant and
Learned Woman(1786) 198
Marriage or the Convent
1. Against Forced Monachization or Forced Marriage: A Review of
Dubois-Fontanelle’s Éricie; or, The Vestal(translated into Italian
by F. Albergati) (1769) 199
2. On the Convent: Tranquil Haven or Painful Prison? (1773) 200
3. Poem Offering Advice to a Bride and Groom upon Their Marriage (1774) 201
4. Review of Letters on the Duties of Nuns’ Superiors (1778) 204
5. Poem for a Young Woman as She Takes the Veil (1781) 204
6. Review of a Book Offering Advice to New Wives and Mothers (1783) 205
7. From a Poem Offering Advice to a Friend upon Her Marriage (1785) 209
8. From a Review of a Satirical Poem Offering Advice to New Nuns (1786) 211
Series Editors’ Bibliography 215
Index 225