num_pages: 568
description: Although Francesco Petrarca (13041374) is best known today for his Italian poetry he was also a philosopher historian orator and one of the foremost classical scholars of his age. Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works is the only comprehensive single-volume source to which anyonescholar student or general readercan turn for information on each of Petrarchs works its place in the poets oeuvre and a critical exposition of its defining features. A sophisticated but accessible handbook that illuminates Petrarchs love of classical culture his devout Christianity his public celebrity and his struggle for inner peace this encyclopedic volume covers both Petrarchs Italian and Latin writings and the various genres in which he excelled: poem tract dialogue oration and letter. A biographical introduction and chronology anchor the book making Petrarch an invaluable resource for specialists in Italian comparative literature history classics religious studies the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A book that every medievalist and early modernist will feel obliged to own. Much like the way Durling's translation created a market for itself thirty years ago Petrarch: A Critical Guide will deliver to us a new Petrarch with many of the less familiar works reweighed in significance and even the principal ones freshly understood. Knowing the poet well I was continually surprised at how much I learned from the essays. Roland Greene Stanford UniversityA provocative reference work for anyone working on the totality of Petrarchs output. The essays combine fresh scholarship and revisionist arguments in clear richly documented and lucid expositions. Without great fanfare and with a keen eye for literary and historical detail Victoria Kirkham and Armando Maggi have managed to offer original intelligent detailed and inspiring interpretations of Petrarchan lyrical historiographical and autobiographical narratives. Valeria Finucci Duke UniversityVictoria Kirkham and Armando Maggi have given the English-speaking world a richly-textured intellectual and artistic portrait of Petrarch that will engross both the novice and the seasoned petrarchista. This veritable treasure of a book will stand the test of time. P. M. Forni Johns Hopkins University
language: English
title: Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works
publisher: University of Chicago Press