Maiden and Modest

Modern readers will be surprised by Ribeiro’s complex treatment of love and longing in Maiden and Modest (1554), because his narrative of suffering and unhappy love is told from the perspective of female protagonists. Indeed, a strikingly feminist note infuses the entire narrative, which also contains both autobiographical aspects and traces of the Cabala and Zohar. A self-conscious narrative that explores issues of gender, identity, and sexuality, Maiden and Modest makes a significant contribution to the development of the European novel. This is an essential book for readers of sixteenth-century literature and scholars of European fiction, sixteenth-century European studies, Renaissance studies, comparative literature, Jewish studies, women’s studies, and feminist fiction.