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Vt*ronK4 Franco (1546-1591). the most famous courtcsan of Vcnk:e. was a beautiful woman. She was alvo a port and protołcmimst (Her hfc as a courtcsan and a writer was the basis for tłve 1997 film Damjtrom Bramy ) Presented herc iri thc onginal Italian and for thc firsc timc in English arc Franco* pocnts a testament intended to outlast the beautiful face and body by which she madc het living. This collcctkw whwrh a ho intludr* Mtcen of Franco^s letters, captures thc frank croilctsm and imptc%sivc clo-quence that set her apart from thc chastc. sileni woman prcscribcd by Rcnaissance gendet ideolog?

In thcir introduction lones and Rosenthal relate Franco* wntings to her complcx soctal milicu As an 'honored courtcsan,' Franco madc her living by arTanging co havc scxual refations, lora high fcc. with thc clitc of Vcmcc and wilh trave!rrv mcrchants. ambasv#dor\. cven kings—who passed through thc city. I ramio bccamc a writer by allymg hertelf with distinguishcd men at thc center of her cłtys culturc, particutarly m thc informa) mceltngs of a literary salon at thr homc of Domcmco Venicr, thc oldesi member of a noble Family and a former Venctian senator Through Veniers protcctwn and her own dctcrmtnation, Franco published work in which the defendcd her fcllow courtcsan*. speaking out agamst thcir mistreatment by men Aft er vickiu% poctic satircv m Vcnetian dialcct desenbed her as a discascd common whorc, she was evenlu alfy called to trial by thr Inrjuisicion and foreed to defend hcrsclł against chargcs of witchcraft. Acquittcd, she retumed to her dientt and Her books

No other courtcsan wrotc in sucli quanuiy and in so many genres as Franco The introduction analyzes her artful rcvision of a widc rangę of literary model*. Alert to drbates ovcr what łorm prose letters should takc. Franco updated Cicero in witty tnvi tationt to her house but also wrotc as a scrious moralist to mco and women fnends. ITtc tramiution of her poetm is intended to suggest thcir vancty. subtlety and botd-ness. Rather than attempt to icproduce the itrza rim* earlicr used by Dante. Jones and Roscnthal offer a elose imitation of Franco's syntax image*, and tones of votce Franco artieulated what she shared with other councsans and wilh thc women of Veiiicc at large Her setne nf women as a group unjustly subordinatcd to men and thc cardully wroughi sclt-poruau she use* to deflatr małe atTogance make her a wnier who will appcal to modern readers as much as she did to men and women of the Rrnaissancc

ANN ROSAUND JONES is Esther Cloudman Dunn Professorof Comparative Literaturę at Smith College She is the aut hm of Tbe (iirrntcy of Eros Wwam i Loor Lym •** Eurofir i34o-t6io MARGARETI ROSENTHAL is associate prołessur uf Italian at thc Univcrsity of Southern Califomia Her biography of Vciomca Itanco, Tfcr Hcmsl Couriaan was published by thr Unrversity of Chicago Press

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