Although attention to the Book of Judith and its heroine has grown in recent years, this is the first full-length study to focus on adaptations of the Bible’s Old Testament Book of Judith across a range of literary genres written in French during the early modern era. Author Kathleen Llewellyn bases her analysis on references to Judith in a number of early modern sermons as well as the ’Judith’ texts of four early modern writers. The texts include two theatrical dramas, Le Mystère de Judith et Holofernés (c. 1500), believed to have been written by Jean Molinet, and Le Miroir des vefves: Tragédie sacrée d'Holoferne & Judith by Pierre Heyns (1596), as well as two epic poems, La Judit (1574) by Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, and Gabrielle de Coignard’s Imitation de la victoire de Judich (1594). Llewellyn’s goal is to see Judith as she was envisioned by early modern French writers and their readers, and to understand how the sixteenth century shaped their view of the heroine. Noting aspects of that story that were emphasized by sixteenth-century authors, as well as elements that those writers altered to suit their purposes, she also examines the ways in which writers of this era made use of Judith’s story as a means to explore interests and concerns of early modern writers, readers, and spectators. Representing Judith in Early Modern French Literature provides a deeper understanding of early modern ideas regarding the role of women, the use of exemplary stories in preaching and teaching, theories of vision, and the importance of community in Renaissance France.

Judith tells the story of a beautiful Jewish woman who enters the tent of an invading general, gets him drunk, and then slices off his head, thus saving her village and Jerusalem. This short novella was somewhat surprisingly included in the early Christian versions of the Old Testament and has played an important role in the Western tradition ever since. This commentary provides a detailed analysis of the text's composition and its meaning in its original historical context, and thoroughly surveys the history of Judith scholarship. Lawrence M. Wills not only considers Judith's relation to earlier biblical texts--how the author played upon previous biblical motifs and interpreted important biblical passages--but also addresses the rise of Judith and other Jewish novellas in the context of ancient Near Eastern and Greek literature, as well as their relation to cross-cultural folk motifs. Because of the popularity of Judith in art and culture, this volume also addresses the book's history of interpretation in paintings, sculpture, music, drama, and literature. A number of images of artistic depictions of Judith are included and discussed in detail.

Although attention to the Book of Judith and its heroine has grown in recent years, this is the first full-length study to focus on adaptations of the Bible’s Old Testament Book of Judith across a range of literary genres written in French during the early modern era. Author Kathleen Llewellyn bases her analysis on references to Judith in a number of early modern sermons as well as the ‘Judith’ texts of four early modern writers. The texts include two theatrical dramas, Le Mystère de Judith et Holofernés (c. 1500), believed to have been written by Jean Molinet, and Le Miroir des vefves: Tragédie sacrée d'Holoferne & Judith by Pierre Heyns (1596), as well as two epic poems, La Judit (1574) by Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, and Gabrielle de Coignard’s Imitation de la victoire de Judich (1594). Llewellyn’s goal is to see Judith as she was envisioned by early modern French writers and their readers, and to understand how the sixteenth century shaped their view of the heroine. Noting aspects of that story that were emphasized by sixteenth-century authors, as well as elements that those writers altered to suit their purposes, she also examines the ways in which writers of this era made use of Judith’s story as a means to explore interests and concerns of early modern writers, readers, and spectators. Representing Judith in Early Modern French Literature provides a deeper understanding of early modern ideas regarding the role of women, the use of exemplary stories in preaching and teaching, theories of vision, and the importance of community in Renaissance France.

Aimer et Mourir offers a wide-ranging selection of essays that collectively address how, from the Middle Ages to the present, the notions of love and death get inextricably associated with the narratives that are womenâ (TM)s lives. Some of the essays tackle male writersâ (TM) representations that link women and, in particular, womenâ (TM)s sexuality, with death, resulting in the figures of the femme fatale, the woman in parturition, and the desiring vampire. A number of essays reiterate that womenâ (TM)s hyper-sexualized bodies have been used as a social construct and a psychological screen upon which to project a fear of death. The challenges to this pat reduction of â oewomanâ (TM)sâ domain come from the mostly women writers represented hereâ "and they span from Marguerite de Navarre to AmÃ(c)lie Nothomb. These women writers rework the old formulae, giving us instead death-defying memories of love, love regenerative of language (as of bodies), love forcing the frontiers of death, or love creatively redefined within the parameters of death. Nor are these new narratives imagined as belonging to women alone but rather as attesting to a richer, more varied, and greatly sensitized human experience.

Your students and users will find biographical information on approximately 300 modern writers in this volume of Contemporary Authors®. Authors in this volume include: Arthur Golden Jewel Taslima Nasrin Quentin Tarantino