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Scanderbeide

The Heroic Deeds of George Scanderbeg, King of Epirus

Edited and Translated by Rinaldina Russell

Scanderbeide

The Heroic Deeds of George Scanderbeg, King of Epirus

Edited and Translated by Rinaldina Russell
The first historical heroic epic authored by a woman, Scanderbeide recounts the exploits of fifteenth-century Albanian warrior-prince George Scanderbeg and his war of resistance against the Ottoman sultanate. Filled with scenes of intense and suspenseful battles contrasted with romantic episodes, Scanderbeide combines the action and fantasy characteristic of the genre with analysis of its characters’ motivations. In selecting a military campaign as her material and epic poetry as her medium, Margherita Sarrocchi (1560?–1617) not only engages in the masculine subjects of political conflict and warfare but also tackles a genre that was, until that point, the sole purview of men. 

First published posthumously in 1623, Scanderbeide reemerges here in an adroit English prose translation that maintains the suspense of the original text and gives ample context to its rich cultural implications.


448 pages | 6 x 9 | © 2006

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe

History: European History

Literature and Literary Criticism: Romance Languages

Poetry

Women's Studies

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 

Series Editors’ Introduction 

Margherita Sarrocchi and the Writing of the Scanderbeide

Volume Editor’s Bibliography 

Note on the Translation

Cast of Main Characters

Scanderbeide: A Prose Translation

Canto 1 

Canto 2  

Canto 3 

Canto 5 

Canto 6 

Canto 7 

Canto 9 

Canto 10 

Canto 13 
Canto 14  

Canto 15  

Canto 17  

Canto 18  

Canto 19  

Canto 20 

Canto 21  

Canto 22  

Canto 23  

Appendix: Excerpts from Cantos 5, 6, 13, and 22 in Italian

Glossary 

Series Editors’ Bibliography 
Index 

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