Warnings to the Kings and Advice on Restoring Spain: A Bilingual Edition / Edition 1

by María de Guevara, Nieves Romero-Díaz

Overview

During a pivotal point in Spanish history, aristocrat María de Guevara (?–1683) produced two extraordinary essays that appealed for strong leadership, protested political corruption, and demanded the inclusion of women in the court’s decision making. “Treaty” gave Philip IV practical suggestions for fighting the war against Portugal and “Disenchantments” counseled the king-to-be, Charles II, on strategies to raise the country’s status in Europe. This annotated bilingual edition, featuring Nieves Romero-Díaz’s adroit translation, reproduces Guevara’s polemics for the first time.

Guevara’s provocative writings call on Spanish women to bear the responsibility equally with men for restoring Spain’s power in Europe and elsewhere. The collection also includes examples of Guevara’s shorter writings that exemplify her ability to speak on matters of state, network with dignitaries, and govern family affairs.  Witty, ironic, and rhetorically sophisticated, Guevara’s essays provide a fresh perspective on the possibilities for women in the public sphere in seventeenth-century Spain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226140810
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/01/2007
Series:	The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe
Edition description:	Bilingual edition
Pages:	180
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Nieves Romero-Díaz is associate professor of Spanish at Mount Holyoke College.
 
 
 

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Series Editors’ Introduction
Abbreviations
Volume Editor’s Introduction
Volume Editor’s Bibliography

I Tratado y advertencias hechas por una mujer celosa del bien de su Rey
y corrida de parte de España (1663) Treatise and Warnings by a Woman, Concerned for the Good of Her King, and Affronted by Part of Spain (1663)

II Desengaños de la corte, y mujeres valerosas Disenchantments at the Court and Valorous Women
 
Appendix A Memorial de la Casa de Escalante . . . Memorial of the House of Escalante . . .  

Appendix B Relación de la Jornada que la Condesa de Escalante hizo a la ciudad de vitoria a besar la mano a Su Majestad Report on the Day’s Journey That the Countess of Escalante Made to the City of Vitoria to Kiss Her Majesty’s Hand

Notes
Series Editors’ Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"It is wonderful to have Guevara's works in translation and, inasmuch as there is no other modern edition of them in the original Spanish, it is extremely useful that [the] translation contains the facing Spanish original."

Bulletin of Hispanic Studies - Ronald E. Surtz

"The combination of education, autonomy and chutzpah make the two texts containing her written advice for royalty . . . a fascinating read."

Bulletin of Spanish Studies - Dian Fox