The Worlds of Petrarch

"A richly textured, deeply learned, and broadly inclusive study of Petrarch's writing, his historical situation, and his contribution to our own cultural formation."--William Kennedy, Cornell University

List of contents

Acknowledgments ix

Note on Petrarch's Texts xiii

Introduction 1

I. Antiquity and the New Arts 14

II. The Thought of Love 33

III. The Canzoniere and the Language of the Self 58

IV. Ethics of Self 80

V. The World of History 102

VI. Orpheus: Rhetoric and Music 129

VII. Humanism and Monastic Spirituality 147

Appendix 1: Petrarch's Song 126 167

Appendix 2: Ambivalence of Power 181

Notes 193

Index 223

About the author

Giuseppe Mazzotta

Summary

At the centre of Petrarch's vision, announcing a new way of seeing the world, was the individual, a sense of the self. This self seemed to be fragmented in Petrarch's work, divided among the worlds of philosophy, faith, and love of the classics, politics, art, and religion. This book shows how these fragmentary explorations relate to each other.

Product details

• Authors: Giuseppe Mazzotta
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9780822313960
• ISBN: 978-0-8223-1396-0
• No. of pages: 248
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 228 mm x 18 mm
• Weight: 381 g
• Series: Duke Monographs in Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Duke Monographs in Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Duke Monographs in Medieval an
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies