ABSTRACT
Boccaccio lays the conceptual foundation for Famous Women by foreshadowing the significant themes that will be developed throughout the work. Primary among these is the threat to social stability posed by women who sought to exercise power outside the domestic sphere to which prevailing convention assigned them. Famous Women opens with a dedicatory letter to Andrea Acciaiuoli, who, for political reasons, was chosen as dedicatee when the text was nearing completion. In the Preface to Famous Women Boccaccio turns from dispensing flattery and cautionary advice to his female dedicatee to discourse designed to garner the approval of a male audience and, hence, acceptance into an established realm of male-dominated scholarship. Throughout Famous Women, Boccaccio conceptualizes women who merit praise as having been animated by masculine spirits, thereby opening the door to male emulation of their example while effectively closing it to women.
