Contagio e memoria: percorsi intertestuali nella Querelle des Femmes

Abstract

The debate over the dispute between the sexes dominated much of European literature during the Humanism and Renaissance periods, creating one of the most significant intertextual exchanges in literary history. The publication of La Città delle Dame (1400) by Christine de Pizan is traditionally considered the starting point of the Querelle des Femmes. In this allegorical novel, written in response to the Roman de la Rose, a series of intertextual relationships are established that reinforce female literary authority and challenge the authoritarianism of misogynistic texts.

Intertextuality, expressed through implicit and explicit quotations, references, and imitations, soon becomes one of the main discursive strategies in the Querelle. Drawing from Alice Bravin's essay, which identifies different types of intertextuality, this article aims to analyze the ways in which these intertextual practices are realized within the pro-women texts of the Italian and European literary tradition of Humanism and the Renaissance.

Intertextual memory is represented by catalogs of illustrious women, recalling historical examples of female excellence. Works such as Theatro delle donne letterate by Francesco Agostino della Chiesa and Dialogo Della Dignità e della Nobiltà delle donne by Cristoforo Bronzini d’Ancona reconstruct the female literary genealogy, reinforcing its historical memory. These intertextual references not only legitimize the authors of the Querelle but also highlight a continuous dialogue between texts and authors throughout the centuries.