2 comments about Christine de Pizan and the Moral Defence of Women: Reading beyond Gender (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature).

1. Rosalind Brown-Grant is one of the leading authorities on Christine de Pizan, and this is evident in this book. Unfortunately, the book is written for other authorities on Christine de Pizan. Most of the main points that Brown-Grant attempts to make are illustrated in the words of Christine...in the original French. If you speak modern French you'll probably be able to get by, but if not it's pretty inpossible to use this book as a viable source. Brown-Grant did a good job translating The Book of the City of Ladies, why couldn't she do the same for this book?



2. Here's what Cambridge Univ. Press has to say about this book: "Christine de Pizan's Livre de la Cité des Dames (1405) is justly renowned for its full-scale assault on the misogynist stereotypes which dominated the culture of the Middle Ages. Rosalind Brown-Grant locates the Cité in the context of Christine's defence of women as it developed over a number of years and through a range of different texts. Arguing that Christine tailored her critique of misogyny according to the genre in which she was writing and the audience she was addressing, this study shows that Christine's case for women nonetheless had an underlying unity in its insistence on the moral, if not the social equality of the sexes. Whilst Christine may not have been a radical in modern feminist terms, she was able to draw upon the cultural resources of her day in order to construct an intellectual authority for herself that challenged the prevailing orthodoxy of the day."

   Christine di Pizan is widely acclaimed as the first woman feminist in the Western World. She began her defense of women in her "Epistres du debat sur le Roman de la Rose" and continued it in "Livre de la Cit des Dames". An excellent study of the feminist implications of Christine di Pizan's work in the context of medieval European scholarship.

No comments about Tantra and Sakta Art of Orissa.

No comments about The Mystery of Love.

No comments about Crafts and religious symbols.

No comments about Thomas Kinkade Gardens of Grace: 2009 Wall Calendar.

1 comments about A Quest for the Post-Historical Jesus.

1. I don't like this book at all. It seems very superficial in his judgment of many important fictionalizations about Jesus, as for example his coments on Kalhil Gibran's "Jesus, the son of man", wich is one of the most influential books of the sixties. He didn't consider expressions of popular culture about Jesus as the plays "Jesus Christ superstar" or "Gospel", but take others wich are obviously less important. Hamilton tries to put some humor on his comments but he does not look serious enough on his observations. Except for his chapter on the political narratives of Jesus, the rest is very simplistic, superficial and self promoted. I wonder if he take knowledge on other narratives of Jesus, as the ones on Dominic Crossan, Holger Kerstein, Frida Hassnain, Goetz, and many others who are currently working on other historical discoveries and points of view. Take only the Albert Schweitzer's book on the historical Jesus, and pointing out determinantly that all historical research on Jesus is at a dead end, seems outdated, very limited, and obviously ortodox and "modern". Finally, it's a very limited vision of what we all are searching now, the substance for the historical an the justification for existence of religion.

1 comments about Early Buddhist Art in India.

1. About the Book :
   The book deals with the evolution of Indian art from 300 B.C. to 300 A.D., believed to be the formative phase of Indian art. The Indian artists, with centuries of background in creative art on wood, ivory, clay and bamboo, began to use stone as a medium. Indian art gradually became successful in achieving three-dimensional forms. This book traces the history of the growth and development of the art that flourished at Sanchi Bharhut, Bodh-gaya, Karla, Bhaja, Pithalkhora, Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, etc., which later culminated in the classical art of the Guptas.
   
   
   About the Author :
   Dr. G.C. Chauley, Director in the Archaeological Survey of India is well known as scholar, Archaeologist and conservator. He has joined in the Archaeological Survey of India in 1970 and worked in different capacities in Curator, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, Superintending Archaeologist and has proved his worth in the respective fields. He earned name and Fame for a two understanding works viz. (i) Excavation at Lalitgiri in Orissa and discovery of Buddhist relic caskets, the 1st of its kind reported from Eastern India (ii) His association for over a decade with the deplastering and conservation project of Lord Jagannath Temple at Puri.
   Besides, a large number of Monuments in Orissa. Chhattisgarh and North East India got facelifted, beautified and conserved under his personal supervision and care.
   He has to his credit over sixty Research papers of Art, Archaeology, Museology, Excavation etc., published/presented in different Journals and Seminars.
   
   Contents :
   Dedication
   Foreword
   Preface
   List of Plates
   Chapter 1 : Introduction
   Chapter 2 : Mauryan Sculptural Art
   Chapter 3 : Post Mauryan Sculptural Art
   i) Bharhut, ii) Bodhgaya iii) Sanci, iv) Orissa (Udayagiri-Khandagiri cave reliefs),
   v) Mathura, vi) Yaksa and Yaksinis, vii) Vengi School(South India
   Chapter 4 : Contemporary Art of Western India (Deccan)
   i) Bhaja, ii) Bedsa iii) Kondane, iv) Pitalkhora, v) Pauni
   Chapter 5 : Kusana Art
   i) Mathura, ii) Gandhara
   Chapter 6 : Contemporary Art of South India
   i) Amaravati, ii) Nagarjunakonda
   Chapter 7 : Art of the Period
   i) Terracotta
   Epilogue
   Select Bibliography
   Index

No comments about Popular Deities, Emblems & Images of Nepal (Nirala, 25).

No comments about Pious Journeys: Christian Devotional Art and Practice in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance.

No comments about Iconography of Sakta Divinities: 2 Vol..