Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men & Women (Vol. 1-5‪)‬

This five-volume work consists in biographies of the most important writers and thinkers of their time, since 14th until 19th century. Most of them were written by the Romantic writer Mary Shelley. Her extensive knowledge of history and languages, her ability to tell a gripping biographical narrative, and her interest in the burgeoning field of feminist historiography are reflected in these works. She wrote in a style that combined secondary sources, memoir, anecdote, and her own opinions. Her political views are most obvious in the Italian Lives, where she supports the Italian independence movement and promotes republicanism; in the French Lives she portrays women sympathetically, explaining their political and social restrictions and arguing that women can be productive members of society if given the proper educational and social opportunities.

Contents:

Vol. 1: Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France (Part. I):

Montaigne

Rabelais

Corneille

Rochefoucauld

Molière

La Fontaine

Pascal

Madame de Sévigné

Boileau

Racine

Fénélon

Vol. 2: Lives of the most eminent literary and scientific men of France (Part. II):

Voltaire

Rousseau

Condorcet

Mirabeau

Madame Roland

Madame de Staël.

Vol. 3: Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal (Part. I):

Dante

Petrarch

Boccaccio

Lorenzo de' Medici, &c.

Bojardo

Berni

Ariosto

Machiavelli

Vol. 4: Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal (Part. II):

Galileo

Guicciardini

Vittoria Colonna

Guarini

Tasso

Chiabrera

Tassoni

Marini

Filicaja

Metastasio

Goldoni

Alfieri

Monti

Ugo Foscolo

Vol. 5: Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal (Part. III):

Boscan

Garcilaso de la Vega

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza

Luis de Leon

Herrera

Saa de Miranda

Jorge de Montemayor

Castillejo

The early dramatists

Ercilla

Cervantes

Lope de Vega

Vicente Espinel; Esteban de Villegas

Gongora

Quevedo

Calderon

Early poets of Portugal

Camoens