Long celebrated as one of “the Three Crowns” of Florence, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75) experimented widely with the forms of literature. His prolific and innovative writings—which range beyond the novella, from lyric to epic, from biography to mythography and geography, from pastoral and romance to invective—became powerful models for authors in Italy and across the Continent. This collection of essays presents Boccaccio’s life and creative output in its encyclopedic diversity. Exploring a variety of genres, Latin as well as Italian, it provides short descriptions of all his works, situates them in his oeuvre, and features critical expositions of their most salient features and innovations. Designed for readers at all levels, it will appeal to scholars of literature, medieval and Renaissance studies, humanism and the classical tradition; as well as European historians, art historians, and students of material culture and the history of the book. Anchored by an introduction and chronology, this volume contains contributions by prominent Boccaccio scholars in the United States, as well as essays by contributors from France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The year 2013, Boccaccio’s seven-hundredth birthday, will be an important one for the study of his work and will see an increase in academic interest in reassessing his legacy.
Author(s): Victoria Kirkham, Michael Sherberg, Janet Levarie Smarr
Publisher: The University Of Chicago Press
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 576
Tags: Boacaccio, Critical Guide, Complete Works
Contents
......Page 6
List of Illustrations......Page 10
Acknowledgments......Page 12
Chronology of Boccaccio’s Life and Works - Victoria Kirkham......Page 14
Introduction: A Man of Many Turns - Janet Levarie Smarr......Page 22
Part I. The Vernacular Master
......Page 42
1. Also Known as “Prencipe Galeotto” (Decameron) - Ronald L. Martinez......Page 44
2. The Textual History of the Decameron - Brian Richardson......Page 62
Part II. The Autodidact
......Page 72
3. Moments of Latin Poetry (Carmina) - Giuseppe Velli......Page 74
4. A Fable of the World’s Creation and Phaeton’s Fall (Allegoriamitologica) - Steven M. Grossvogel......Page 84
5. A Portrait of a Young Humanist (Epistolae 1–4) - Jason Houston......Page 90
Part III. Classical Romances
......Page 96
6. Love-Struck in Naples (Filostrato) - David Wallace......Page 98
7. A Lovers’ Tale and Auspicious Beginning (Filocolo) - Elissa Weaver......Page 108
8. The Girl outside the Window (Teseida delle nozze d’Emilia) - Michael Sherberg......Page 116
Part IV. Allegorical Terza Rima
......Page 128
9. The Game of Love (Caccia di Diana) - Arielle Saiber......Page 130
10. Mural Morality in Tableaux Vivants (Amorosa visione) - Jonathan Usher......Page 140
Part V. New Pastorals
......Page 152
11. On the Threshold of Paradise (Comedia delle ninfe fiorentine, or Ameto) - Jane Tylus......Page 154
12. Myth and History: Toward a New Order (Ninfale fi esolano) - Susanna Barsella......Page 166
13. The Changing Landscape of the Self (Buccolicum carmen) - David Lummus......Page 176
Part VI. Woman And Women
......Page 192
14. An Experiment in the Healing Power of Literature (Elegia di madonna Fiammetta) - Annelise M. Brody......Page 194
15. Rhetoric and Invective in Love’s Labyrinth (Il Corbaccio) - Letizia Panizza......Page 204
16. Doing and Undoing: Boccaccio’s Feminism (De mulieribus claris) - Deanna Shemek......Page 216
Part VII. Devotion To Dante And Petrarch
......Page 226
17. A Life in Progress (De vita et moribus Francisci Petracchi de Florentia) - Giuseppe Mazzotta......Page 228
18. To Praise Dante, to Please Petrarch (Trattatello in laude di Dante) - Elsa Filosa......Page 234
19. Boccaccio’s Divided Allegiance (Esposizioni sopra la “Comedia”) - Robert Hollander......Page 242
Part VIII. Historian And Humanist
......Page 254
20. Gods, Greeks, and Poetry (Genealogia deorum gentilium) - Jon Solomon......Page 256
21. Boccaccio on Fortune (De casibus virorum illustrium) - Simone Marchesi......Page 266
22. Vernacularization in Context (Volgarizzamenti of Livy, Valerius Maximus, and Ovid) - Alison Cornish......Page 276
Part IX Geographical Explorations
......Page 284
23. Boccaccio’s Humanistic Ethnography (De Canaria) - James K. Coleman......Page 286
24. Between Text and Territory (De montibus, silvis, fontibus, lacubus, fluminibus, stagnis seu paludibus et de diversis nominibus maris) - Theodore J. Cachey Jr.......Page 294
Part X. Miscellanies: Lyrics, Letters, Notebooks
......Page 302
25. Pathways through the Lyric Forest (Rime) - Roberto Fedi......Page 304
26. Personality and Conflict (Epistole, Lettere) - Todd Boli......Page 316
27. Boccaccio’s Working Notebooks (Zibaldone Laurenziano, Miscellanea Laurenziana, Zibaldone Magliabechiano) - Claude Cazalé Bérard......Page 328
Part XI. Epilogue
......Page 340
28. A Visual Legacy (Boccaccio as Artist) - Victoria Kirkham......Page 342
29. An Intimate Self-Portrait (Testamentum) - Michael Papio......Page 362
Notes......Page 374
Bibliography......Page 506
List of Contributors......Page 550
Index......Page 558
