A $121k (£92k) grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will support the translation and publication of two major 16th-century French poems.
The funding announcement comes as part of a $37.5 million package of funding for 240 humanities projects across the United States and Europe by the endowment. Associate Professor in History of Art Dr Elizabeth L’Estrange, in collaboration with Professor Joan E. McRae of Middle Tennessee State University, will be publishing the two major surviving works of Anne de Graville (c.1490-1540) in English: the Beau roman and the Rondeaux.
Anne de Graville was a French poet and translator who dedicated her two surviving works to two powerful women at the French court: Queen Claude of France, and Claude’s mother-in-law, Louise of Savoy. Following in the steps of Christine de Pizan a century earlier, Anne was an important, but so far over-looked, voice in pro-feminine literature of the 1500s.
The project, titled ‘Resurrecting the Work of Anne de Graville: An Edition, Annotation, and English Translation of the Works of Anne de Graville’, will give new life to the centuries-old texts and make them widely accessible to the public.
We’re so pleased that Anne is finally getting the attention she deserves. Her writings engage with two canonical male authors – Boccaccio and Chartier – and challenge the misogynistic discourses of her day, giving women a voice in a literary field otherwise largely dominated by men.
For Dr L’Estrange, this project is part of her ongoing research on Anne de Graville’s work. In April 2023 she released her book, Anne de Graville: Women’s Literary Networks in Early Modern France, which connected Anne’s library and book-collecting practices to her writing. The National Endowment for the Humanities funding follows a c.£10K BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant that Dr L’Estrange and Professor McRae received in 2023 to kickstart their project.
UPDATE: Dr L'Estrange's book, Anne de Graville: Women’s Literary Networks in Early Modern France, has received the 2024 Best Book (Scholarly Monograph) award from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender. The award committee commended the publication's "meticulous archival and bibliographical research with innovative literary analysis", adding "This lavishly illustrated and well-written book offers a fascinating account of the concerns animating one woman’s complex involvement in the world of books” - 08/10/2024
Associate Professor in History of Art
Biographical and contact information for Dr Elizabeth L'Estrange, Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Birmingham.
