Moderata Fonte’nin Tredici canti del Floridoro’sunda Androjeni

İtalya’da kahramanlık romanı yazan ilk kadın yazarlardan biri olan Moderata Fonte, Il merito delle donne (1600) eseriyle kadınlarla ilgili tartışmalara [querelle des femmes] katılır. Kadının değerini ve cinsiyetler arası eşitliği savunduğu eseri Tredici canti del Floridoro (1581) ise kadınlara ilişkin sorunlar hususundaki hassasiyetini kanıtlar niteliktedir. Bu çerçevede, bu çalışma Fonte’nin androjeni kavramına dayanan protofeminist argümanını analiz etmeyi amaçlar. İtalyan ataerkil toplum düzeni bağlamında Fonte’nin Il merito delle donne (1600) eserindeki kadınlar hususundaki görüşlerinden hareketle, ilkin androjeninin sosyal ve teorik anlamlarını tartışır. Savaşçı kadın kahraman Risamante ve esere adını veren erkek kahraman Floridoro’yu, atanmış toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini altüst etmelerinden ötürü, androjeniyi temsil eden karakterler olarak değerlendirir. Fonte’nin, androjeni kavramından faydalanarak, cinsiyetler arasında özsel bir fark olmadığını kanıtladığını, kadınlar ve erkekler arasında hiyerarşik bir ilişki üretenin kültürel varsayımlar ve uygulamalar olduğunu savunur. Makalede, Moderata Fonte’nin androjeni aracılığıyla katı toplumsal cinsiyet rollerini parçaladığı ve Tredici canti del Floridoro’da her iki cinsiyete de eşit eğitim hakkı verilmesi ve cinsiyetler arasında eşitlik olması gerektiğini savunduğu sonucuna varılır. Bu bağlamda, Tredici canti del Floridoro, Moderata Fonte’nin protofeminist görüşünü açıkça ortaya koymaktadır. 

Androgyny in Moderata Fonte’s Tredici canti del Floridoro

Moderata Fonte, who is one of the earliest female authors to write chivalric romance in Italy, participates in the debate on women [querelle des femmes] with Il merito delle donne (1600). Tredici canti del Floridoro (1581), in which she defends the worth of women and equality between sexes, also documents Fonte’s concern for female issues. Within this framework, this paper aims to analyse Fonte’s protofeminism based upon the concept of androgyny. Drawing upon her thought about women in Il merito delle donne (1600) within the framework of the Italian patriarchal social context, it first discusses the social and theoretical implications of androgyny. It interprets the warrior heroine Risamante and the titular hero Floridoro as representatives of the androgyne examining how they deconstruct their assigned gender roles. It argues that Fonte utilizes androgyny to evince that there is no essential difference between sexes but the cultural assumptions and practices produce a hierarchical relationship between women and men. It concludes that Fonte, by means of androgyny, shatters rigid gender boundaries, and she advocates that both women and men should benefit from education and they should be treated equally. Tredici canti del Floridoro, thereby, manifests Moderata Fonte’s protofeminist opinion.

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