Table of Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction: Early Modern Medicine and the Querelle des femmes
• 1. Love or Seduction? Christine de Pizan's Legacy from the Querelle de la Rose to the Querelle des femmes
• 2. From Physical to Spiritual Love: Molinet's Roman de la Rose moralisé (1500) and the Querelle des femmes
• 3. Platonic Love, Marriage, and Infertility in Symphorien Champier's Nef des princes (1502) and Nef des dames (1503)
• 4. Love and Death in the Lemaire's Couronne Margaritique and the Trois Contes de Cupido et d'Atropos: Excessive Grief and the Great Pox
• 5. Fatal Lovesickness in Marguerite de Navarre's Quatre Dames et Quatre Gentilzhommes and the Heptaméron
• Conclusion: From Courtly Love to Fatal Lovesickness
• Appendix 1: Works in the Querelle de la Rose and the Querelle des femmes (1240-1673)
• Appendix 2: Major Early Modern Medical Authorities, Translators, and Commentators
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

Promotional Information

• The linking of medical accounts of women's physiology, philosophical discussions of women's morality, and the Querelle has not been undertaken in this thorough a manner.
• An introduction to the longer Querelle as well as an analysis of how it plays out in the sixteenth century, a period important for the development of female discourse in France.
• The author presents an important period in the history of women, when discussions concerning the status of women were frequent, prominent, and heated.
• The study of these five authors yields important insights into literary reception and views of women's sexual difference in early modern France. The Querelle des femmes was not merely a debate about women but also about forms of interpretation, especially between men and women.

About the Author

Judy Kem is a professor of French at Wake Forest University. She is editor or author of three books in French studies.
 
 

Reviews

“An important and engaging book, Pathologies of Love examines the role played by received ideas on erotic diseases—from lovesickness to syphilis—in the early modern debates known as the querelle des femmes. . . . Accessible, thought provoking, and informative, this volume will prove essential reading for anyone interested in early modern medicine, gender studies, and literature.”—Nancy Frelick, associate professor of French studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver

 

“The volume’s careful study of subjects as diverse as courtly love, early modern medicine’s perceptions of women, and questions of interpretation of sixteenth-century discourse and literature is a substantial and welcome contribution to the existing scholarship on women and their evolving role in early modern society.”—Leanna Bridge Rezvani, Department of Global Studies and Languages at MIT