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糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock professor receives National Endowment for Humanities grant to publish book on unpublished works of Louise Dupin

A professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received a $133,333 grant from the National Endowment for Humanities to publish the most complete edition of 18th-century French philosopher Louise Dupin鈥檚 unpublished treatise 鈥淲ork on Women.鈥澨� Dr. Angela Hunter, associate professor of English, and her co-principal investigator, Dr. Rebecca Wilkin of Pacific Lutheran University, will edit and translate selections of Dupin鈥檚 work from French to English. Their book, 鈥淟ouise Dupin, Work on Women: Selections,鈥� will be published by Oxford University Press as part of the 鈥淣ew Histories of Philosophy鈥� series. 鈥淐ontributions from women were often ephemeral at the time. Dupin likely worried about public embarrassment if she published portions of her work under her own name,鈥� Hunter said. 鈥淏ecause Dupin never published her treatise and because of the way women are often erased from these histories, she is not known as a philosopher.鈥澨� Their goal is to bring Dupin鈥檚 most important intellectual contributions to a wide audience at a time when interest in early female philosophers is on the rise. Dupin is primarily known now for holding an important literary salon and for her friendship with philosopher Jean-Jaques Rousseau, who served as a secretary in her household from 1745 to 1751.听 鈥淢ost of her correspondence was destroyed after her death, so we may never know what persuaded her not to complete and publish her work,鈥� Hunter said. 鈥淭he image of her has been portrayed as a beautiful, gracious woman, a friend to many philosophers and artists, and a great conversationalist. It鈥檚 very important to me that she is recognized as a thinker in her own right and not just as a featured friend and employer of Rousseau, who used his time in her employ to expand his own knowledge base and even borrowed ideas from Dupin.鈥� Dupin鈥檚 unpublished work opens with a critique of the masculine vanity seen in both historical and emerging scientific views of sexual difference, analyzes the way that education perpetuates women鈥檚 dependence on men, and attacks in great detail inheritance laws and the marriage contract as sites of inequality, tracing them from the classical period to her own time.听 鈥淲e believe the law section is very interesting from a scholarly point of view,鈥� Hunter said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 particularly eager to show that men鈥檚 domination of women is not something that鈥檚 been done the same way throughout time and across cultures. She thought that French jurisprudence of the 16th and 17th centuries听 stripped women of their rights perniciously.鈥�听 The book will contain a selection of more than two-thirds of the most complete chapters of the 鈥淲ork on Women,鈥� as well as an introduction, bibliography, index, and four appendices. The selection draws from Dupin鈥檚 five main thematic sections on natural philosophy, religion, history, law, and education. Once published, the book will represent the only translation of Dupin鈥檚 work to date; small sections of the text are currently published in French. 鈥淎s her working title implies, Dupin did not finish the 鈥榃ork on Women,鈥欌�� Hunter said. 鈥淪ome of the extant chapters exist in multiple drafts, and a few in rough draft form, while small sections of the manuscript are missing or assumed held in private collections. The manuscripts are currently spread across various libraries and archives in three countries. We have spent years transcribing and analyzing the manuscript and are thrilled to have the support of the NEH for this project.鈥� The awarded $30 million in grants this fall to 238 humanities projects across the country. This funding will support vital research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. Hunter鈥檚 grant was one of only three projects in Arkansas to receive an NEH grant in this round of funding. 鈥淭hese challenging times underscore how important the humanities are to making American culture and world history relatable across generations,鈥� said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. 鈥淣EH is proud to award hundreds of grants to keep our nation鈥檚 scholars, students, teachers, and citizens moving forward in pursuit of new knowledge and understanding.鈥澨�