I, Christine
Christine de Pizan narrates her story as a pioneering woman writer in 14th-15th century France. It begins when she is widowed and struggling to feed her children and her mother. Her late husband was astrologer and physician to the king, and one of his court friends helps by arranging a position for her to copy books in the king’s library. Her reputation as a poet comes to the attention of royalty, and she wins poetry contests reading her work to the court. Soon she is being given commissions by royal family members to produce illustrated copies of her work. But becoming known in court circles means she is bound to make enemies. She becomes involved in a disagreement with a courtier over Roman de la Rose, which Pizan sees as very misogynistic. And her position at court means she gets caught up in the civil war in France between different factions of the royal family when the king becomes mentally ill.
I knew little about Pizan and appreciated learning more about her story. Maxwell is very good at portraying the small details of medieval life, such as clothing, preparing meals, and décor; she obviously did a lot of research. But the novel needs editing, and I’m not sure that a first-person narrator was the best choice for the book. It means that in order for the narrator to witness and describe goings-on at the court, she is constantly traveling back and forth between home and the royal palaces. I had trouble keeping the characters straight, who was related to the king and how, for example, so a list of characters would have helped. Pizan’s life is a more than worthy subject for a novel, so I applaud Maxwell’s attempt, but I did not find this version compelling.
