Tullia d’Aragona (1501/4–1556) was a courtesan, poet, and philosopher who frequented the highest echelons of Italian Renaissance society. John C. McLucas is professor emeritus of Italian at Towson University. Julia L. Hairston is a researcher whose focus is on gender in Italian literature and society from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

• Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction The Wretch and the Other Voice Tullia d’Aragona: Life and Works Paratext Dedication of Claudio Rinieri to Giulio della Valle Preface: Tullia d’Aragona to Her Readers Summary of The Wretch, Otherwise Known as Guerrino Epic, Style, Meter, Narrator, Gender, and Reason in The Wretch The Hero Guerrino and Religion Translator’s Note Editorial Norms for the Italian Edition List of Corrections Imperfect Rhymes and Rhyme Schemes in the Poem Sinossi dei canti Canto Synopses Il Meschino, altramente detto il Guerrino Dedica Tullia d’Aragona ai lettori Canti 1–36 The Wretch, Otherwise Known as Guerrino Dedication Tullia d’Aragona to Her Readers Cantos 1–36 Bibliography Index

"Tullia d’Aragona’s The Wretch bears the extraordinary distinction of being the first epic poem written by a woman in Italian. Basing her work on a fifteenth-century romance recounting the chivalric adventures of the Carolingian knight Guerrino, Tullia transforms the prose source into thirty-six cantos of elegant ottava rima, totaling more than 28,000 lines of hendecasyllabic verse. In her letter to her reader as well as in the proems to the cantos, she emphasizes the moral themes of the text, which champion above all the Christian faith. The English translation by John McLucas is lucid and engaging, and Julia Hairston’s rich introduction provides an immensely useful discussion of the intellectual and religious framework behind Tullia’s text. This is a great contribution to the Other Voice series, and to the history of women’s writing in the Renaissance."