The First Professional Woman Writer

Question

A. Gautam

Christine de Pizan giving a lecture

A page of Pizan's book Le livre des trois vertus
Christine de Pizan was the first professional woman writer. She was considered an activist for women before the term was coined. The French term for that is avant la lettre (before the letter). Pizan argued that women should be respected and educated. According to Dr. Charlotte Cooper-Davis of the University of Oxford, Pizan penned bitingly witty writing.

Born in Italy, Christine de Pizan was fascinated with books at a young age and disappointed at how women were portrayed in literature. She strongly believed that if women wrote the books, they would be more realistic in how women are written about. This was a driving factor in her desire to become an author.

Pizan was the first woman to make a living from writing. When she was twenty-five, her husband died, and she was left with three young children. Pizan took up writing and prepared herself with training in history, science, and poetry. In 1393, she wrote love poems, songs, and ballads which were well-received.

This, in turn, inspired her to continue. She wrote about protection of widows and argued for the education of girls. As a visionary, she wrote outstanding and insightful books. In 1405, her book Le Livre de la cité des dames (The City of Ladies), the first history book about women from the point of view of a woman, was published. The book argues that male historians didn’t correctly portray the role of women in history. She provided a positive view of women’s achievements and included stories about past heroines. Her next book, Le livre des trois vertus (Three Virtues, 1406), gave women advice on improving their lives. For instance, she advised rich women to run their estate while the husbands were away or absent. Some of her famous poetic works were the Epistre au dieu d’amours (The Letter of the God of Love) and Dit de la Rose (Tale of the Rose). Being a young widow and mother did not stop Pizan to fight all the obstacles she faced in the Middle Ages. Pizan produced her own manuscripts, 60 of which have survived.

Her books remained popular long after her death. William Caxton, who started up the first printing works in England, chose Christine de Pizan as one of the first authors to publish. Henry VII asked Caxton to publish an English edition of her book Faytes of Arms in 1489. It was published without her name on the cover because people feared men wouldn’t take a woman’s advice on military matters seriously. This proves the concerns that Christine de Pizan had about women not being as respected as men were valid.
Question
Select three of the sentence options to create an objective summary of the passage.
Responses
A After discovering that most books didn’t portray women in literature, she wrote many books which she herself produced. After discovering that most books didn’t portray women in literature, she wrote many books which she herself produced.
B Christine de Pizan was the first woman writer who earned a living by writing. Christine de Pizan was the first woman writer who earned a living by writing.
C She advised the rich women to run their estate while they were away on business or were traveling for other reasons.She advised the rich women to run their estate while they were away on business or were traveling for other reasons.
D She overcame obstacles like being a widow at 25 and raising 3 children in the Middle Ages and portrayed women in a positive light all the while giving advice in her books. She overcame obstacles like being a widow at 25 and raising 3 children in the Middle Ages and portrayed women in a positive light all the while giving advice in her books.
E Not many people know about inspirational women who were well ahead of their time in the Middle Ages.

Answer 1

The three sentence options that create an objective summary of the passage are:

B) Christine de Pizan was the first woman writer who earned a living by writing.

D) She overcame obstacles like being a widow at 25 and raising 3 children in the Middle Ages and portrayed women in a positive light all the while giving advice in her books.

C) She advised the rich women to run their estate while they were away on business or were traveling for other reasons.