UC Irvine FlashPoints Title Wings for Our Courage: Gender, Erudition, and Republican Thought Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4wp0h5bx Author Jed, Stephanie H. Publication Date 2011-07-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Wings for Our Courage flashpoints The series solicits books that consider literature beyond strictly national and disciplin- ary frameworks, distinguished both by their historical grounding and their theoretical and conceptual strength. We seek studies that engage theory without losing touch with history and work historically without falling into uncritical positivism. FlashPoints aims for a broad audience within the humanities and the social sciences concerned with mo- ments of cultural emergence and transformation. In a Benjaminian mode, FlashPoints is interested in how literature contributes to forming new constellations of culture and history and in how such formations function critically and politically in the present. Available online at http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucpress. Series Editors: Ali Behdad (Comparative Literature and English, UCLA); Judith Butler (Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley), Founding Editor; Edward Di- mendberg (Film & Media Studies, UC Irvine), Coordinator; Catherine Gallagher (Eng- lish, UC Berkeley), Founding Editor; Jody Greene (Literature, UC Santa Cruz); Susan Gillman (Literature, UC Santa Cruz); Richard Terdiman (Literature, UC Santa Cruz) 1. On Pain of Speech: Fantasies of the First Order and the Literary Rant, by Dina Al-Kassim 2. Moses and Multiculturalism, by Barbara Johnson, with a foreword by Barbara Rietveld 3. The Cosmic Time of Empire: Modern Britain and World Literature, by Adam Barrows 4. Poetry in Pieces: César Vallejo and Lyric Modernity, by Michelle Clayton 5. Disarming Words: Empire and the Seductions of Translation in Egypt, by Shaden M. Tageldin 6. Wings for Our Courage: Gender, Erudition, and Republican Thought, by Stephanie H. Jed Wings for Our Courage Gender, Erudition, and Republican Thought Stephanie H. Jed university of california press Berkeley • Los Angeles • London University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2011 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jed, Stephanie H, 1953– Wings for our courage : gender, erudition, and republican thought / Stephanie H. Jed. p. cm.—(FlashPoints ; 6) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-520-26769-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Italian literature—16th century—History and criticism. 2. Politics and literature—Italy—History—16th century. 3. Republicanism in literature. 4. Republicanism—Italy— Florence—History—16th century. 5. Republicanism—History. I. Title. PQ4080.J43 2011 850.9'004—dc22 2011005498 Manufactured in the United States of America 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviro100, a 100% post- consumer fiber paper that is FSC certified, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certified. for Eduardo, Bruno, and Lucas with love and gratitude Contents List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 Section One: Slaying the Tyrant, 1536–2011 23 Folder 1. The Republic of Letters: Its Fascist Legacy 30 Folder 2. Humanistic and Imperial Ambition 41 Folder 3. The Republic of Letters and Its Imperial Context 45 Folder 4. The Tyrant in the Field: Intelligence Gathering, Economy, and the Maintenance of Empire 50 Folder 5. The Politics and Economy of Grain 64 Folder 6. Sexual Politics and Imperial Documentation Projects 66 Folder 7. The (Com)passionate Hand 73 social intersection: 1565–1995, between Mexico City, the Mountains of Chiapas, Bologna, Friuli, and Los Angeles 79 Section Two: Wings for My Courage 84 Shelf List 1. Cataloguers, Compilers, and the State 87 Frapporsi 1. Claiming Space on the Shelf 90 Shelf List 2. Noses/Political Gnosis 91 Frapporsi 2. The Father’s Nose (and Bowels): The Education of Sons and Daughters 93 Shelf List 3. Gender in the Public Library 94 Frapporsi 3. The Importance of Social Relations in Libraries to Investigations of Gender and History 95 Shelf List 4. Catalog, Capitalism, Spatial Arrangements 96 Frapporsi 4. Spatial and Temporal Location 100 Shelf List 5. Work Habits, Movements, Transcription 103 Frapporsi 5. Against Academic Arguments: Tarabotti and Mozzoni 106 Shelf List 6. Hands, Instruments of Writing 108 Frapporsi 6. Hands That Take Up the Pen in Specious Reasoning 110 Shelf List 7. Debauchery, Erudition 112 Frapporsi 7. The Bestiality and Deceit of Political Erudition 115 Shelf List 8. Daughters in the Order of Political Knowledge 116 Frapporsi 8. Tyranny (and Freedom) from the Daughter’s Perspective 117 Shelf List 9. Bibliographic Categories and Armies of Nuns 119 Frapporsi 9. A Bibliographic Army of Nuns 123 Shelf List 10. The Librarian as Political Actor 123 Frapporsi 10. Women, Liberty, the State 126 Gender and the Library as Fictions of Research 129 social intersection: 1536–2011, between San Diego, Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Paris 136 Section Three: Gender, Erudition, and the Italian Nation 140 Enter Allart 142 Lexicon 145 Allargare (and restringere) 145 Amazon 147 Archives 147 Body parts and intellect 149 Carraresi 152 Chinese 153 Coquetteries 153 Dominate 154 Dreams of the nation 156 Erudite relations 156 Fear 158 Filial relations 159 Florence 160 French lessons 160 Insults and compliments 161 Italy and Italian 163 Making scenes 163 Mixing 164 Organization/classification 165 Past and present 165 Placing copies of the Histoire de la république de Florence in Florence 168 Political relations with books 172 Preface 176 Process 176 Protection 176 Rules 176 Study as consolation 177 Translation 178 Tyranny 179 Vanity 180 What we share 180 Withholding 182 Women of Italy 182 Conclusion 183 Afterword 187 Appendix 191 Notes 201 Bibliography 261 Index 277 Illustrations 1. The Scene of Tyranny. Photograph by Larry Stein. 18 2. Myopic Politics. Photograph by Larry Stein. 18 3. Categories of Knowledge. Photograph by Larry Stein. 19 4. Wings for My Courage. Photograph by Larry Stein. 20 5. The Nose Knows. Photograph by Larry Stein. 21 6. Facsimile of Giovanni Antonio’s letter to Marino Caracciolo, January 9, 1537. Courtesy of the Archivio di Stato of Milan. 24 xi Acknowledgments This book has taken way too long to complete, but at a certain point it took on a life of its own, and I couldn’t find a way to hurry the pace. Finally, at project’s end, I have the opportunity to thank and appreciate my teacher Paolo Valesio. From the first, he encouraged me to take in- tellectual risks. When he wisely advised me many years ago not to mix my research on Lorenzino with my newer projects, I didn’t follow his advice. Now, however, I am satisfied that this book is a better tribute to all that I learned from Valesio . a stylistic expansiveness, a sense of critique, an interest in theorizing practice and practicing theory, and an ability to connect with my sources through writing. Thank you, Paolo, for giving me the tools I would need on this journey. I have been blessed with many more teachers, colleagues, friends, and family members who have generously supported and encouraged my work along the way and to whom I am deeply grateful: Leonard and Florence Jed, Erica Jed, John Freccero, Hayden White, Marga- ret Brose, Mary-Kay Gamel, Harry Berger, the Galassi Beria family, the Majnoni family, Luciana Siddivò and family, Maurizio Sabini, the Calitri/Bagatella family, Teresa de Lauretis, William Tay, Mar- git Frenk, Jaime Concha, Page duBois, Roy Harvey Pearce, Cecilia Ubilla, Armando Petrucci, Franca Nardelli, Grazia Peduzzi, Alberto Rollo, Vittoria Salierno, Carlos Blanco Aguinaga, Marta Sanchez, Rosaura Sanchez, Andrew Wright, Susan Kirkpatrick, Lori Cham- berlain, Julie Hemker, Lisa Lowe, Bett Miller, Jennifer Robertson, xiii xiv | Acknowledgments Maria Teresa Koreck, Michael Meranze, Robert Westman, Randolph Starn, Carlo Ginzburg, Paula Findlen, Luce Giard, Susan Larsen, Nicole Tonkovich, Kathryn Shevelow, Pasquale Verdicchio, Adri- ana De Marchi Gherini, Michael Davidson, Winnie Woodhull, Jorge Mariscal, Roddey Reid, Todd Kontje, Don Wayne, Louis Montrose, Oumelbanine Zhiri, Seth Lerer, John Marino, Janet Smarr, Lisa Lampert-Weissig, Marguerite Waller, Richard Terdiman, Albert As- coli, Barbara Spackman, Carla Freccero, Natalie Zemon Davis, Jane Newman, Jane Tylus, Dianella Gagliani, Luciano Casali, Lorna Hut- son, Deanna Shemek, Michael Wyatt, Gianni Celati, Watson Branch, Heather Fowler, Michelle Stuckey, Lisa Vernoy, and Mary Eyring. I am grateful to the following institutions and people who pro- vided financial, institutional, and editorial support for my work: the Fulbright Program, for supporting the beginnings of this research; the Academic Senate of the University of California–San Diego, for numer- ous travel grants and research