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Grounded on her sonnets, her letters to the pundits of her age, her prose texts, on contemporary statements, this is the first comprehensive biographical approach to Vittoria Colonna.

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What has mesmerised me most about Vittoria Coilonna, the female Genius of the Italian Renaissance, is the miracle of her Shakespearen liveliness. While her vivacity is sparkling in all the spheres of social life, her sonnets reveal the roots of her poetry in deep human authenticity. That´s why this woman easily bridges half a millennium, creating such personal familiarity that discoursing with her has been more gratifying to me than chatting with my kith and kin, conditioned and alienated humans in our Brave New World like myself.
During my research into the life and personality of this female genius of the Cinquecento, I came to recognize that male progress in the following centuries meant female regression. However, I made the reassuring experience that owing to the complexity of this exceptional woman my degenerate female consciousness began to regenerate.
Her universal mind comprising Heaven and Earth intimidates us in the narrowness of our horizon. However, we feel estranged from her, when she succumbs to the megalomania of her age, paying homage to the narcissist cult of undeserving personalities. Although she would not admit to being keen on fame, she was never neglectful about cutting a splendid figure. As a poetess she was yearning for male recognition.
On the other hand, she was a pragmatic feudal landowner, too, controlling her subjects on her feuds with hands-on mentality.
However, at heart she was no realist. On the contrary! As a poetess she used her exuberant imagination for mental flights into spiritual spheres. Read more about Vittoria: www.female-genius.com

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Dr. Musiol, Maria
1958 Abitur am Humanistischen Gymnasium in Bayern; Universitätsstudium der Anglistik und Geschichte, der Philosophie und Italianistik; bayerisches Staatsexamen für das Höhere Lehramt in Bayern; 1968 Dissertation in Geschichte; 1968- 1969 Wissenschaftliche Tätigkeit am Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen; 1969 - 2003 Lehrtätigkeit an Gymnasien in Regensburg; Seit 2004 Ruhestand: Erstmalige umfassende Erforschung der Vittoria Colonna und Veröffentlichung ihrer Biographie gemäß den Primärtexten. Die Erwerbung der englischen Version durch UBs weltweit (auch Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, die Bibliothek des Amerikanischen Kongresses) ermutigt mich nach weiteren 3500 Arbeitsstunden zu der Veröffentlichung der ersten systematischen (!) Darstellung der Dichtung Vittoria Colonnas.

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