Michael Urie in ‘Jane Anger’

Nobody knows exactly who wrote the pamphlet “Jane Anger Her Protection for Women,” published in England in 1589. Was it really written by a woman named Jane Anger? Was it even written by a woman? It’s certainly tart as a thrown lemon, a defense against 16th-century querelle des femmes discourse, which grappled with questions of women’s virtue and sense. In her polemic, Anger exudes a lively contempt for male pamphleteers’ attacks: “For if Tom Foole will presume to ride on Alexander’s horse, he is not to be pitied though he get a foul knock,” she says about men who (incellishly) use misogynist rhetoric to disguise their sulks. Put…