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    Petrarch's 'Fragmenta'
    The Narrative and Theological Unity of 'Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta'

    Thomas E Peterson (Author)

    9781487500023

    Hardback, published 6 May 2016

    344 pages, 2 figures
    23.6 x 16.1 x 2.7 cm, 0.66 kg

    "Peterson’s stimulating book has the merit of inducing the reader to revisit the complexity of the Canzoniere as a work in which, in an innovative way, a story of transformation is narrated."

    - Susanna Barsella, Fordham University (Speculum, Vol 94 no 3, July 2019)

    Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta, a collection of lyric  poems on sacred and profane love and other subjects, has traditionally been viewed as reflecting the conflicted nature of its author. However, award winning author Thomas E. Peterson argues that Petrarch’s  Fragmenta is an ordered and coherent work unified by narrative and theological structures.

    By concentrating on the poem’s reliance on Christian tenets and distinguishing between author, narrator and character, Peterson exposes the underlying narrative and theological unity of the work. Building on recent Petrarch scholarship and broader studies of medieval poetics, poetic narrativity, and biblical intertextuality, Peterson conducts a rigorous examination of the Fragmenta’s poetic language. This combination of stylistic and philological analysis recasts Petrarch’s poetry in a new light revealing its radically innovative and liberating character.

    Introduction

    1. Petrarch Today: A Focus on Narrativity
    2. Humanism and Poetic Theology
    3. A History of Return

    Chapter 1: Historical Context and PoeticForm

    1. The Poetry of the Tradition
    2. Style, Genre,Structure
    3. The Proem of the Fragmenta (Rvf 1–10)

    Chapter 2: Temporality andDesire

    1. Entering the Selva of the FirstCentenary
    2. The Dimension of Fable in the ‘Raccolta of 1342’
    3. Further Consequences ofFable

    Chapter 3: The Language of Tears (Rvf 92–122)

    1. A Parable of Return
    2. Nature, Landscape, Solitude
    3. The Secretum and Canzone

    Chapter 4: In fresca riva: Landscape and History(Rvf 125–183)

    1. Canzoni 125–129
    2. Saint Peter and the AvignonChurch
    3. Antithesis and Parallelism

    Chapter5: The Penitent Lover (Rvf 184–263)

    1. The Fading Myth of Daphne
    2. Out of the Labyrinth, Away From the World
    3. APoetics of Quietude

    Chapter 6: Songs of Grief and Lamentation (Rvf 264–317)

    1. “Quelle pietosebraccia” (264, 14)
    2. “Come va ’l mondo!” (290, 1)
    3. Augustinian Time and the Process ofGrieving

    Chapter 7: Songs of Consecration (Rvf 319–366)

    1. The In Between Time of Parable
    2. Friendship and Dialogue,Memory and Solitude
    3. Seeds of Grace

    Conclusion

    1. Historical Reception and the Figure of Petrarch
    2. “Altr’uom” (Narrative, Style, Theology)
    3. An Autopoietic Unity

    Notes

    Bibliography
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