The City of Ladies fits with Divine Comedy in the medieval burn book category. The structure is that of three allegorical women building a city for all good women to live within, but it’s a literary device to display the moral and intellectual goodness of women by bringing up a bunch of examples. The rhetorical device is actually incredibly similar to Dante's, where the narrator is a character with the name of the author who debases themselves to the guides, in this case female embodiments of Reason, Rectitude and Justice. This edition abbreviated some of the sections, but from what’s still there, my guess is that some of the additional examples were removed after one establishing one.
I found this one oddly inspirational. It’s described as an early feminist work, which is funny because it’s so basic, in terms of feminism, but I suppose that’s what you’re up to as a feminist in the fourteenth century. Arguments to support the ideas that, for example, women are not stupid, women can learn, women are not fickle or nagging or loose or morally inferior.

reading 'The city of ladies' is very much like having blue balls. ie comical torture. the book is ultimately Christine de Pizan's pity party. I dig her, don't get me wrong and I understand the relevance of the book for the feminine movement however I feel like instead of slandering men and going on and on about 'how this woman did this' and 'this woman did that' Christine should take a more psychological look at it, and not rely on God, and the three mystery ladies she makes up: Reason, Rectitude, and that other one. it's kind of an odd approach to have god justify the reason women reign supreme, don't ya think? I totally see where she's coming from and I know I seem like a chauvinist for going against her yadda yadda I just think the fantasy fairy tell ga ga isn't really the way to go about it. but hey this was written a long time ago. gotta give it her for getting some cred back in the day...
SO GLAD TO BE DONE WITH THIS! OMG. the last page was hillarious too. THe City of Ladies (ie the utopia of Christine's fair lady society! triumph! religion! just! rationality! logic! crazy gurl!) ( )

Christine de Pizan, writing in the year 1405, writes a treatise on feminist equality by way of a dialogue with personifications of Reason, Rectitude and Justice. These three "sisters" help Christine to edify and fortify her "City of Ladies" wherein women are able to celebrate their full potential, unhindered by the malevolent misogyny so prevalent to the time.

While Reason, Rectitude and Justice rattle off a laundry list of historical female exemplars, the real value of the treatise lies with Christine herself. While the Christine in the book plays the part of the virtuous, but naive, young woman, the subtext makes clear that Christine de Pizan is an intellectual force with which to be reckoned. She demonstrates a knowledge of literature, philosophy, and rhetoric that was inaccessible to many women of the time. If her argument fails in any sense, it is only in that she fails to address how women might rise above their station.

And while Christine focuses on negating the misogynistic assertions of other writers, her own feminist thought has its limits. She admits, through the voice of Reason, that it would "not be right for [women] to abandon their customary modesty and to go about bringing cases before a court." It is, however, necessary for Christine to abandon her own modesty, which she does in several instances, particularly through self-referencing her earlier related works. The dialogue style enables her to do this without too much self-aggrandizement.

While none of the ideas contained within The City of Ladies will shock the 21st century western mind, the larger lesson on the power of the word is invaluable. ( )