Classics, Medieval & Renaissance 2012 - University of Toronto ...

LITERATURE
Textual Cultures of Medieval Italy
NEW
Edited by William Robins
Medieval Italy presented a rich array of discrete
textual cultures, many of them specific to particular
regions, professions, or groups of writers and
readers. The essays in this collection consider how
distinct habits of writing took root among specific
communities in Italy between the early Middle
Ages and the eve of the Renaissance.
As a whole, the collection makes the case for
combining abstract analyses such as textual theory
and intellectual history with more technical specialties
such as editing and codicology. Rather than
approaching pre-modern Italian textuality as
something uniform, Textual Cultures of Medieval
Italy engages with its fascinating plurality.
William Robins is an associate professor in the
Department of English and the Centre for Medieval
Studies at the University of Toronto.
‘A stimulating collection [that] includes useful surveys
and innovative articles.’
Brian Richardson, University of Leeds
(Essays from the 41st Conference on Editorial Problems)
320 pp / 8 colour plates / 6 x 9 / 2011
Cloth 978-1-4426-4272-0 $70.00 (£48.99)
Beasts and Beauties
Animals, Gender, and Domestication in the Italian Renaissance
Juliana Schiesari
Beasts and Beauties traces the role of animals in Italian
conceptions of humanity in a number of key texts
from the fifteenth through the seventeenth century.
The book delineates the co-development of two different
forms of domestication since the Renaissance,
specifically the new culture of domesticated animals
that emerged in the modern phenomenon of the
‘pet,’ and the contemporaneous delineation of the
home as a private domain, where the pater familias
presided over his domesticated wife, children, servants
– and animals. Using a methodology that is both
feminist and psychoanalytic, Beasts and Beauties
demonstrates how the figure of the animal resituates
canonical works and authors in the Italian Renaissance
in ways that help us rethink the notion of what it
means to be human.
Juliana Schiesari is a professor of Italian and
Comparative Literature at the University of California,
Davis.
‘Beasts and Beauties offers compelling, energetically
conveyed readings of otherness in texts and images
of early modern Europe … it demonstrates effectively
how an animal-centered approach to the cultural
production of early modern Europe can help in understanding
the construction of categories and
hierarchies of humanness.’
Nathalie Hester, Renaissance Quarterly
(Toronto Italian Studies)
176 pp / 9 illustrations / 6 x 9 / 2010
Cloth 978-0-8020-9922-8 $45.00 (£31.99)
‘My Muse will have a story to paint’
dennis looney is an associate professor in the
Selected Prose of Ludovico Ariosto
Translated with an Introduction by
Dennis Looney
Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533), best known for his
1516 epic poem Orlando furioso, was one of the great
Italian poets of the Renaissance. In this collection,
Dennis Looney presents a compendium of Ariosto’s
prose, including his 214 Letters and a satirical piece,
Herbal Doctor. While some letters shed light on his
day-to-day life, including his work as a provincial
commissioner for the ruling Este family of Ferrara,
others offer insight on the composition and production
of his poems and plays, allowing a glimpse of the man
in his creative workshop. With his elegant, faithful
translation, Looney enriches our understanding of
the Italian Renaissance and one of its greatest writers.
Department of French and Italian at the University
of Pittsburgh.
The lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library
‘We have no Empire, such as did the Romans, so powerful that
subject cities spontaneously sought to emulate their rulers’ speech ...
Nonetheless it can clearly be seen how, in our present times, many
diverse people of intelligence and refinement, outside Italy no less
than within Italy, devote much effort and study to learning and
Dennis Looney is associate professor in the
speaking our language for no other reason than love.’
– Giovan Batista Gelli, Ragionamento sulla lingua, 1551
Department of French and Italian at the University
of Pittsburgh.
‘This is the first time such a wide selection of Ariosto’s
prose has been published in a language other than
Italian. Both the Renaissance scholar and the reader
interested in Cinquecento
‘This volume,
life
containing
will
the largest
gain
selection
great
of Ariosto’s prose
benefit
translated into any language, is truly commendable.
from it.’
Dennis Looney’s precise, elegant interpretation is enhanced by a
rich historical foreword and a well-assembled bibliography.
Both general readers and scholars will appreciate this valuable
Gian Paolo Giudicetti, Renaissance
resource for defining Ariosto’s
Quarterly
life and time.’
Jacket illustrations: (front) Portrait of a Man, c.1512 (oil on canvas), Titian
(Tiziano Vecellio) (c.1488–1576), National Gallery, London, UK / The
Bridgeman Art Library International; (back) Letter 5, Archivio di Stato,
Modena, Archivio Segreto Estense, Cancelleria Estero, Serie: Ambasciatori,
agenti e corrispondenti all’estero, Italia, Roma, 131, Ludovico Ariosto,
Dispaccio, 1509, 25 dic. Busta 20. Thanks to Director Euride Fregni for
permission to reproduce the image (Prot. 1420/28.01.02/1.2).
University of Toronto Press
Jacket printed in Canada
ISBN 978-1-4426-4087-0
Roberto Fedi, Università per Stranieri di Perugia
(The Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library)
ISBN 978-1-4426-4087-0
320 pp / 2 photos; 1 map ,!7IB4E2-geaiha! / 6 x 9 / 2010
Cloth 978-1-4426-4087-0 $65.00 (£45.99)
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