The Cambridge Companion to Petrarch

An account of the life and works of Petrarch, scholar and poet, and his influence on European literature and culture.

Albert Russell Ascoli (Edited by), Unn Falkeid (Edited by)

9780521185042, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 November 2015

275 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.7 cm, 0.44 kg

Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, 1304–74), 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.

Chronology
Introduction Albert Russell Ascoli and Unn Falkeid
Part I. Lives of Petrarch: 1. Poetry in motion Theodore J. Cachey, Jr
2. Petrarch and his friends Hannah Chapelle Wojciehowski
Part II. Petrarch's Works: Italian: 3. Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta: structure and narrative Peter Hainsworth
4. Making the Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta Luca Marcozzi
5. Petrarch's Singular Love Lyric Ullrich Langer
6. The Triumphi Zygmunt G. Bara?ski
Part III. Petrarch's Works: Latin: 7. The Latin hexameter works Ronald L. Martinez
8. The defense of poetry in the Secretum Victoria Kahn
9. De Vita Solitaria and De Otio Religioso: the perspective of the guest Unn Falkeid
10. Epistolary Petrarch Albert Russell Ascoli
Part IV. Petrarch's Interlocutors: 11. Petrarch and the Ancients Gur Zak
12. Petrarch and the vernacular Lyric past Olivia Holmes
13. Petrarch's adversaries: the Invectives David Marsh
Part V. Petrarch's Afterlife: 14. Petrarch and the Humanists Timothy Kircher
15. Bembo and Italian Petrarchism Stefano Jossa
16. Female Petrarchists Ann Rosalind Jones
17. Spanish, French, and English Petrarchism William J. Kennedy
Part VI. Conclusion: 18. Petrarch's confrontation with modernity Giuseppe Mazzotta
Guide to further reading.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]