D
Dacier, Anne Le Fèvre ( 1654-1721). Born into a financially comfortable and
intellectually driven family, she married André Dacier, a classical scholar in his
own right. Dacier was schooled in languages, became fluent in Greek and Latin,
and demonstrated an affinity for the classics and translation*. With her husband
and other linguists, she translated and edited works by Callimachus, Dictys, and Aurelius and was also responsible for translations of Terence's comedies, the
poetry* of Anacreon and Sappho, and Plato Phaedo. Dacier offers insightful
remarks on these editions. Her own critical work includes Homère défendu contre l'Apologie du R. P. Hardoüin ou suite des causes de la corruption du goust.
In a most clear display of feminist consciousness and resistance, Dacier tackles
the well-respected and celebrated classical critic Hardoüin for his critiques of
detractors and defenders of Homer and his Iliad. She felt it most pressing to
redress Hardoüin's misreadings and to rearticulate her positions on the classical
poet. While Hardoüin does not explicitly name Dacier, a fact which, she argues,
subtends a sexist dimension, she explicitly names him and dissects his observations of Homer. In a quasi-battle over Homeric interpretations, a face-off
between a polished woman erudite and a male critic, Dacier challenges specifically Hardoüin's supposition that he alone knows the true subject of the Iliad,
as well as a broader legacy of French male scholars as keepers of knowledge
and authorities on matters of literary import. T Denean Sharpley-Whiting
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text
| Homère défendu contre l'Apologie du R. P. Hardoüin ou suite des causes de la corruption du goust. Paris: Chez Jean-Baptiste Coignard, 1716. |
Translations by Dacier
| La Poésie d'Anacréon et de Sapho avec des remarques par Madame Dacier. Amsterdam: Chez la veuve de Paul Marret, 1716. |
-137-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature.
Contributors: Eva Martin Sartori - Editor, Colette H. Winn - Editor, Perry Gethner - Editor, Samia I. Spencer - Editor, Juliette Parnell-Smith - Editor, Mary Rice-DeFosse - Editor, Susan Ireland - Editor, Patrice J. Proulx - Editor.
Publisher: Greenwood Press.
Place of publication: Westport, CT.
Publication year: 1999.
Page number: 137.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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