Jewish Poet and Intellectual in Seventeenth-Century Venice - (Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) by Sara Copia Sullam (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The first Jewish woman to leave her mark as a writer and intellectual, Sarra Copia Sulam (1600?-41) was doubly tainted in the eyes of early modern society by her religion and her gender. This remarkable woman, who until now has been relatively neglected by modern scholarship, was a unique figure in Italian cultural life, opening her home, in the Venetian ghetto, to Jews and Christians alike as a literary salon.

For this bilingual edition, Don Harrán has collected all of Sulam's previously scattered writings-letters, sonnets, a Manifesto-into a single volume. Harrán has also assembled all extant correspondence and poetry that was addressed to Sulam, as well as all known contemporary references to her, making them available to Anglophone readers for the first time. Featuring rich biographical and historical notes that place Sulam in her cultural context, this volume will provide readers with insight into the thought and creativity of a woman who dared to express herself in the male-dominated, overwhelmingly Catholic Venice of her time.

Review Quotes

"[Sulam] was a kind of Susan Sontag of the Venetian Ghetto....[The book is] rewarding and enlightening."--Benjamin Ivry "The Jewish Daily Forward" (3/21/2010 12:00:00 AM)

"The volume provides a comprehensive documentation of Copia's life and work and is essential for scholars of Copia, women's studies, early modern studies, and Jewish studies."--Jerold C. Frakes, University at Buffalo "Sixteenth Century Journal"

About the Author

Don Harrán is the Artur Rubinstein Professor Emeritus of Musicology at the Hebrew University of Jersualem. He is the author of many books, including Salamone Rossi, Jewish Musician in Late Renaissance Mantua.