How has feminist thought evolved throughout the ages? Beginning in the fifteenth century with Christine de Pizan, who imagined a City of Ladies that would serve as a refuge from the harassment of men, historian of ideas Hannah Dawson has magnificently drawn together an anthology of six hundred years of feminist thinking from all over the world in her latest book, The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing. Alongside traditional feminist icons such as Mary Wollstonecraft, who stated that she did ‘not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves,’ we find perhaps lesser known women such as Qiu Jin who proclaimed ‘Why should women lag behind?’ Joining Dawson for this episode to discuss the book is literary critic, scholar and editor Merve Emre, who is Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University.

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