The Cambridge companion to Petrarch
By: edited by Albert Russell Ascoli and Unn Falkeid
Series: Cambridge companions to authors; Cambridge companions to literature
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 266
ISBN-13: 9781107006140; 9780521185042
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation
Description: "Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, 1304-1374), best known for his influential collection of Italian lyric poetry dedicated to his beloved Laura, was also a remarkable classical scholar, a deeply religious thinker and a philosopher of secular ethics. In this wide-ranging study, chapters by leading scholars view Petrarch's life through his works, from the epic Africa to the Letter to Posterity, from the Canzoniere to the vernacular epic Triumphi. Petrarch is revealed as the heir to the converging influences of classical cultural and medieval Christianity, but also to his great vernacular precursor, Dante, and his friend, collaborator and sly critic, Boccaccio. Particular attention is given to Petrach's profound influence on the Humanist movement and on the courtly cult of vernacular love poetry, while raising important questions as to the validity of the distinction between medieval and modern and what is lost in attempting to classify this elusive figure"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Part I. Lives of Petrarch: 1. Poetry in motion / Theodore J. Cachey, Jr.; title: 2. Petrarch and his friends / Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski; title: Part II. Petrarch's Works: Italian: 3. Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta: structure and narrative / Peter Hainsworth; title: 4. Making the Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta / Luca Marcozzi; title: 5. Petrarch's Singular Love Lyric / Ullrich Langer; title: 6. The Triumphi / Zygmunt G. Barański; title: Part III. Petrarch's Works: Latin: 7. The Latin hexameter works: Epystole, Bucolicum carmen, Africa / Ronald L. Martinez; title: 8. The defense of poetry in the Secretum / Victoria Kahn; title: 9. De Vita Solitaria and De Otio Religioso: the perspective of the guest / Unn Falkeid; title: 10. Epistolary Petrarch / Albert Russell Ascoli; title: Part IV. Petrarch's Interlocutors: 11. Petrarch and the Ancients / Gur Zak; title: 12. Petrarch and the vernacular lyric past / Olivia Holmes; title: 13. Petrarch's adversaries: the Invectives / David Marsh; title: Part V. Petrarch's Afterlife: 14. Petrarch and the Humanists / Timothy Kircher; title: 15. Bembo and Italian Petrarchism / Stefano Jossa; title: 16. Female Petrarchists / Ann Rosalind Jones; title: 17. Iberian, French, and English Petrarchisms / William J. Kennedy; Part VI. Conclusion: 18. Petrarch's confrontation with modernity / Giuseppe Mazzotta.