The book uses the bivalent concept of courtesy as chivalry and as magnanimity as a heuristic for ... more The book uses the bivalent concept of courtesy as chivalry and as magnanimity as a heuristic for understanding Dante's political thought, and, in turn, how that influenced the historical vision of Boccaccio. Courtesy Lost reveals how Boccaccio felt torn between a nostalgia for elite Florentine and Italian families in decline -- families noted for their propensity towards violence as part of a chivalric code -- and the need to promote magnanimity within the Florentine Republic in the name of an ethical, Ciceronian understanding of courtesy.
The book examines how these literary narratives compare with other historical accounts from those times, for instance, in the chronicles of Dino Compagni and Giovanni Villani, and the blurred line between history and fiction, and the sociological and the literary, when authors discuss a golden age marked by generosity, and a present day cursed by incivility and violence. Courtesy Lost attends to this development in the idea of civility by viewing these literary works both as products of their historical contexts and as a part of historiography itself.
This volume will help instructors lead their students through the many dimensions—historical, lit... more This volume will help instructors lead their students through the many dimensions—historical, literary, religious, and ethical—of Dante’s difficult and rewarding Divine Comedy. An overview of the important scholarship is provided, along with ways of teaching the work through its contemporary culture and ours. Various teaching situations are considered, an updated bibliography is offered, and many available translations are discussed.
Proceedings of the Conference "Boccaccio in Washington DC" held at Georgetown University and the ... more Proceedings of the Conference "Boccaccio in Washington DC" held at Georgetown University and the Italian Embassy In October 2013 and sponsored by the American Boccaccio Association, in honor of the seventh century of Boccaccio's birthday. The volume
This book explores the enduring presence of some of the most ground-breaking early modern voices ... more This book explores the enduring presence of some of the most ground-breaking early modern voices and works in our contemporary time. It embraces a rich diversity of literary genres (from poetry to storytelling, novels, fairy tales, and historical colonial chronicles, while also considering musical theatre compositions), and broadens the scope of research to the world of media, with cutting edge insights into contemporary films, TV series, and videogames. It presents innovative scholarly perspectives on how early modern works and themes are explored, remediated, and refashioned today to address cultural, political, and social issues germane to our global present. The eleven chapters of the volume are critically discussed into two main sections: I. Adaptations, Echoes, and Interpretations of Dante, Boccaccio, and Shakespeare in the 20th and 21st Centuries; II. Literary and Media Adaptations of Early Modern Historical Figures and Works.
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content of the Forum:
Dante and Economics
... more In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content of the Forum: Dante and Economics COORDINATED BY ANTONIO MONTEFUSCO AND FILIPPO PETRICCA; CONTRIBUTIONS BY Kristina M. Olson, William Caferro, Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Giacomo Todeschini, Enrico Fenzi, Juan Varela-Portas De Orduña, Ronald L. Martinez
In 1927, the philosopher Benedetto Croce argued that socialism revitalized the political landscape and affected every aspect of intellectual life in Italy. Yet there was a space which socialism could not penetrate: literature. Croce was responding explicitly to Frederick Engels's preface to the Italian edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1893). Engels claimed that, just as medieval Italy was the cradle [End Page 176] of capitalism and Dante its poet, at the end of the nineteenth century Italy was awaiting the Dante of socialism (Engels 1893). For Croce, conversely, poetry was irreducible to economics, and Dante's gaze at the past was precisely what made him a poet: "Dante era uno spirito doloroso, in contrasto coi suoi tempi, e rivolto romanticamente al passato, e perciò fu poeta" (Croce 1991 [1927]: 207–8). Croce and Engels exemplify the two main approaches that twentiethcentury scholars have taken to Dante and economics. On the one hand, Dante is presented as resistant to the rising monetary economy, rescuing the Empire and the Church in an anachronistic attempt to reform the system and preserve a declining medieval world. On the other, Dante emerges as a champion of progress: capitalist, modern, socialist or democratic, sometimes aligned with the poor and sometimes with the wealthy class. The contradictions apparent across these conclusions raise the question: what exactly does it mean to investigate Dante and economics? As we know, economics was not a separate discipline in the Middle Ages. What we understand today as "economics" was then a set of rules and aspects intertwined with theology, philosophy, and broader moral concerns (Lambertini 2019), encompassing questions of the circulation and distribution of resources, the determination of value, the nature and fairness of exchange, monetary policies, and legislation. Dante certainly engages with these themes in his works: he stages and envisions systems of distribution; he presents sins such as avarice, simony, usury, and greed; he uses language and metaphors involving trade, usury, and debt; he represents money, and takes sides in the theorization of excess and moderation, trade and gift. These matters were particularly important in the context of late medieval Florence, a city under transformation, with an increasing population, a growing economy, and an expanding trade network (Faini 2010, Day Jr. 2015; Goldthwaite 2009; Caferro 2020). So where was Dante standing in relationship to this world in flux? Was he aware of the significant financial shifts and techniques that Florence was witnessing and developing at this time? Did he reject or embrace the economic changes that made the Florentine economy so influential?
Dante’s poetics of migration resonates with the same migrants camped near the poet’s tomb in Rave... more Dante’s poetics of migration resonates with the same migrants camped near the poet’s tomb in Ravenna and the current migrant crisis between Italy and Africa. The poet frequently refers to ‘refugees’: souls who flee or migrate towards a final resting place, the Celestial Rose in Paradise. The migrants located in Ravenna and other places in northern Italy, vis-à-vis Dante, are souls in exile. Camped near the exiled poet’s final resting place, they migrate towards an unknown destination, without the certainty of arriving in a promised land. I begin by unraveling the knot of allusive references in mainstream journalism, and then move to Dante’s poem to consider how the pilgrim is described as a refugee. I conclude with a consideration of Simon Njami’s 2014-15 exhibit catalogue, The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary Artists, to find shared artistic ground between these bodies in transit.
Dante Beyond Borders: Contexts and Reception (edited by Nick Havely and Jonathan Katz) Published by Legenda, 2021
This chapter begins by examining the critical tradition on the ignavi of Inferno 3, the nature of... more This chapter begins by examining the critical tradition on the ignavi of Inferno 3, the nature of their failing, and the theological basis for their punishment. The essay then surveys a variety of references made by American political leaders and preachers to the ignavi, appropriations which display varying degrees of familiarity with Dante's poem. I then consider the positions of American philosophers and gender theorists on the ignavi within debates over feminism and Western-centric social and civil rights movements. In my conclusion, I consider two contemporary examples from 21st-century American politics: one, which begs the "application" of Dante's definition of cowardice as a civic sin, and the other, the most recent political appropriation of Inferno 3.
For a novella whose protagonist is renowned for the silence with which she confronts her tragic d... more For a novella whose protagonist is renowned for the silence with which she confronts her tragic destiny, the fortuna of the fifth tale of the Fourth Day, the tale of Lisabetta da Messina, has suffered no such fate. Its critical reception can be described as polyvocal, as it is distinguished by a variety of approaches: structuralist, formalist, sociological, and psychological – just to name those that appear, for example, in the edited volume dedicated to IV.5, Il testo moltiplicato: Lettura di una novella del Decameron. The fortuna of this tale – claimed by Terzoli to be the first to inaugurate the motif of a dismembered head placed into a vase – also boasts literary, visual and cinematic adaptations over the centuries. Authors and artists ranging from the poet Hans Sachs (whose interpretations of the tale between 1515 to 1548 inspired the folkloric ballad “The Bramble Briar”) , John Keats (“Isabella, Or the Pot of Basil,” 1818) to the Pre-Raphaelite artists inspired by his poem – John Everett Millais (Isabella, 1849), William Holman Hunt (Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1866-1868), and the “modern” Pre-Raphaelite John William Waterhouse (Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1907) – to Pier Paolo Pasolini (who adapts this tale in his Decameron, 1971) have added their voices to Boccaccio’s narrative (vis-à-vis Filomena) in rewriting his tale to the sonnet form, canvas, or movie screen. This rich afterlife affirms IV.5’s status among the most studied and interpreted of the Decameron, such as those of Alatiel (II.10) and Griselda (X.10). I begin by discussing how this novella shows the fate of various hybrids that populate the story on thematic and formalist levels (the basil plant and the head; the love affair of a Pisan and a Messinese whose ancestry is Tuscan; the canzone and the novella). While most of the hybrids that exist within the world of the novella are undone with violence, only the integrity of the generic hybrid of the novella and the canzone survives, thriving, as it does, in the satisfied reaction of the brigata at the beginning of IV.6. The essay then moves to read the novella within the macro-textual context of the Decameron while taking historical and sociological contexts into consideration. Decameron IV.5 not only highlights the brutal logic of the merchant class, as Vittore Branca famously stated, but it also evokes the physical structures of the merchant world, namely in the evocation of the merchant colonies called the fondaci that appear in few other canonical texts from that time. In further contemplating the symbolism of Lorenzo’s decapitated head, which has been interpreted as a saintly remain (Branca, Marcus, Terzoli), I read this novella as a tale of relics, from the unsettled fate of Lorenzo’s head to the false relics of San Lorenzo in VI.10 that form an unlikely counterpart. In conclusion, this essay treats the character of Lisabetta as a literary hybrid figure of sorts, whose identity is split between those of the restricted women of the Proem, to that of an author herself.
Approaches to Teaching Dante's Divine Comedy, second edition, 2020
Students reading the Divine Comedy in the 21st century, especially those not familiarity with the... more Students reading the Divine Comedy in the 21st century, especially those not familiarity with the study of medieval misogyny, are often puzzled by Dante’s stance on women given the plurality of perspectives offered by the poem. They find it hard to reconcile diverse, and often seemingly contradictory, elements, such as: his characterization of women in the afterlife, such as Beatrice, Francesca da Rimini (Inf. 5), the “femmina balba” (Purg. 19), Matelda (Earthly Paradise), and Piccarda Donati (Par. 3); invectives against the immorality of contemporary Florentine women (Purg. 23 and Par. 15); the misogynist language of political invective which often likens political decadence to female sexuality (Purg. 6; Purg. 16); and the perceived gender of literary language itself, which he describes in the De vulgari eloquentia as originating in a female vernacular tongue (he also characterizes the Aeneid as a “nutrice,” or nurse, in Purg. 21). In an attempt to lead students to a more nuanced understanding of women and gender in the Commedia that moves beyond designations of feminism and misogyny, I instruct them to approach questions of gender and his incorporation of women and the “feminine” in different modes: in terms of an historicized poetics (the relationship between the fictional and the historical for women located in his afterlife); political rhetoric (the creation of a historiography that alternately depends upon female and male morality); and language (the significance of a maternal vernacular). In my essay, I share how I approach these three aspects by a careful examination of the textual moments cited above.
Boccaccio combined political and economic discourse – one that remembers rulers for their acts of... more Boccaccio combined political and economic discourse – one that remembers rulers for their acts of greed or liberality – in his fictional biographies of Angevin rulers in Naples. This essay explores how this historiographical mode takes inspiration from the works of Dante, including the Commedia, the Trattatello, and, perhaps most importantly, the Monarchia, despite the temporal and political differences between himself and his greatest Florentine predecessor. By examining the figures of Charles I, his son Charles II, and Robert I, King of Naples, one can observe how Boccaccio sublimates these differences with Dante as he develops an ethical language around governance. Boccaccio responds closely to the Florentine poet’s presentation of these individuals in the Commedia, indicating possible contradictions in Dante’s accounts. To put it simply, Boccaccio’s revisions of Dante’s political history are nuanced and innovative, conflating ethics, economics, politics, and the lives of poets – similar to how Boccaccio related to the Mezzogiorno in his own life, as a symptom of the larger geopolitical situation between Florence and Naples.
Nelle biografie dei sovrani angioini – ricordati per le loro azioni avide o liberali – Boccaccio unisce il discorso politico a quello economico. In questo saggio analizziamo come questo metodo storiografico si ispiri al Dante della Commedia, del Trattello e, soprattutto, della Monarchia nonostante vi sia una chiara distanza cronologica e ideologica con l’illustre modello fiorentino. Esaminando le figure di Carlo I, Carlo II e di Roberto I, dimostriamo come Boccaccio sia abile a stemperare le differenze con Dante e a sviluppare una propria analisi etica dell’azione di governo. Inoltre l’autore non si limita a riprendere da vicino la rappresentazione delle figure politiche fatta da Dante nella Commedia, ma ne indica anche le eventuali contraddizioni. Le revisioni della storia politica dantesca sono sottili ma innovative in quanto considerano anche l’etica, l’economia e la vita stessa dei poeti. Un metodo storiografico che Boccaccio apprese relazionandosi con l’ambiente napoletano e che utilizzò per meglio comprendere il contesto geopolitico tra Firenze e Napoli.
Le Tre Corone: Rivista internazionale di studi su Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, 2019
Giovanni Boccaccio’s public lectures on Inferno 1 to 17, known as the Esposizioni, feature a comp... more Giovanni Boccaccio’s public lectures on Inferno 1 to 17, known as the Esposizioni, feature a compelling symmetry : at their beginning and (incomplete) ending, Boccaccio discusses the legendary generosity and textiles of the Tartars, both « questa spezie di panno […], oltre ad ogni altra, vilissima », which is felt (Esp.1.169) reputed to be used during Tartar funereal ceremonies, and the silk fabrics, « drappi tartareschi » (Esp.17), which had arrived in Italian cities by means of the Silk Road. While his knowledge of the region is through chronicles, second-hand accounts, and oral anecdotes, Boccaccio’s interpretation of legends regarding the Far East, influenced by Dante’s text and his own mercantile and cultural worlds, are an important dimension to his cultural project of “ethical geography” that can be found in many of his works. Both Dante and Boccaccio must have identified the Tartar textiles of important rulers and clergy, and Boccaccio would have recognized this “small pattern” style in the work of artists such as Simone Martini. By referring to the utopian realm of the Far East – geographically distant and ethically distinct, yet with a narrative and visual presence in his own times – Boccaccio holds up a mirror to Florentine and Neapolitan decadence.
Scholarship has traditionally taken for granted that the Italian historiographical tradition is r... more Scholarship has traditionally taken for granted that the Italian historiographical tradition is rhetorically based upon the virtues and vices of women, and a similar assumption has occasionally been made for the Commedia as well, though that totalizing vision has been challenged recently. When considered in the contexts of material consumption, Dante’s history of Florence is based upon the vices of both men and women, one that exists in dialogue with the governance of dress and ornamentation of the body, as scholars have noted. Two seminal moments in the Commedia speak to these political and social realities by lamenting the moral decadence of Florence, comparing past and present sumptuary mores: Forese Donati’s invective against the “sfacciate donne fiorentine” (Purg. 23.97–102), and, under examination here, Cacciaguida’s nostalgia for the prelapsarian age of Florence, which, among other social markers of integrity, did not have excessive ornamentation or luxurious clothing (Par. 15.100–117). The focus in Forese’s invective on the immodest dress of women expands to target both male and female dress in Cacciaguida’s description of the modest ways of Florentines who dwelled in the “cerchia antica.” Likewise, Cacciaguida’s reminiscence, which describes fashion trends on behalf of both sexes, should be interpreted within the political contexts from which they originate, as well as in terms of the history of its reception in the commentary tradition, as I argue in this essay. When read against the distortions of the commentary tradition of the Commedia and the chronicles, and then contextualized within fashion history and select sumptuary statutes, Cacciaguida’s history of Florence can be perceived to inculpate both men and women as the protagonists in the performance of new wealth. The inextricable relationship between Dante’s history of fashion and his political vision differentiates the Commedia from the moralizing, misogynistic tradition of these other narratives.
This paper considers the historical antecedent of Cardinal Latino’s specific interdiction against... more This paper considers the historical antecedent of Cardinal Latino’s specific interdiction against women’s clothing that exhibited frontal exposure as evoked by Forese Donati in Purgatorio 23, situating this interdiction within the history of sumptuary counsel and legislation. This gendered aspect of Dante’s history of Florence is informed by the political discourse of sumptu- ary excess amongst Florentine elite families and the tensions amongst such families, both those which had true claims to nobility (such as the Donati), and the upwardly mobile mercantile elite (such as the Cerchi). Dante’s choice of Forese Donati as the speaker of this invective carries implications for Dante’s political thought, as it reflects the concerns of the popolo more than those of elite families. This essay relates the intersection of political critique, concupiscence, and virility to the insufficient covering of Nella in the tenzone between Dante and Forese Donati and elsewhere in the Purgatorio, reading the exposed female body as a signifier of civic decadence and church corruption.
The book uses the bivalent concept of courtesy as chivalry and as magnanimity as a heuristic for ... more The book uses the bivalent concept of courtesy as chivalry and as magnanimity as a heuristic for understanding Dante's political thought, and, in turn, how that influenced the historical vision of Boccaccio. Courtesy Lost reveals how Boccaccio felt torn between a nostalgia for elite Florentine and Italian families in decline -- families noted for their propensity towards violence as part of a chivalric code -- and the need to promote magnanimity within the Florentine Republic in the name of an ethical, Ciceronian understanding of courtesy.
The book examines how these literary narratives compare with other historical accounts from those times, for instance, in the chronicles of Dino Compagni and Giovanni Villani, and the blurred line between history and fiction, and the sociological and the literary, when authors discuss a golden age marked by generosity, and a present day cursed by incivility and violence. Courtesy Lost attends to this development in the idea of civility by viewing these literary works both as products of their historical contexts and as a part of historiography itself.
This volume will help instructors lead their students through the many dimensions—historical, lit... more This volume will help instructors lead their students through the many dimensions—historical, literary, religious, and ethical—of Dante’s difficult and rewarding Divine Comedy. An overview of the important scholarship is provided, along with ways of teaching the work through its contemporary culture and ours. Various teaching situations are considered, an updated bibliography is offered, and many available translations are discussed.
Proceedings of the Conference "Boccaccio in Washington DC" held at Georgetown University and the ... more Proceedings of the Conference "Boccaccio in Washington DC" held at Georgetown University and the Italian Embassy In October 2013 and sponsored by the American Boccaccio Association, in honor of the seventh century of Boccaccio's birthday. The volume
This book explores the enduring presence of some of the most ground-breaking early modern voices ... more This book explores the enduring presence of some of the most ground-breaking early modern voices and works in our contemporary time. It embraces a rich diversity of literary genres (from poetry to storytelling, novels, fairy tales, and historical colonial chronicles, while also considering musical theatre compositions), and broadens the scope of research to the world of media, with cutting edge insights into contemporary films, TV series, and videogames. It presents innovative scholarly perspectives on how early modern works and themes are explored, remediated, and refashioned today to address cultural, political, and social issues germane to our global present. The eleven chapters of the volume are critically discussed into two main sections: I. Adaptations, Echoes, and Interpretations of Dante, Boccaccio, and Shakespeare in the 20th and 21st Centuries; II. Literary and Media Adaptations of Early Modern Historical Figures and Works.
In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content of the Forum:
Dante and Economics
... more In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content of the Forum: Dante and Economics COORDINATED BY ANTONIO MONTEFUSCO AND FILIPPO PETRICCA; CONTRIBUTIONS BY Kristina M. Olson, William Caferro, Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Giacomo Todeschini, Enrico Fenzi, Juan Varela-Portas De Orduña, Ronald L. Martinez
In 1927, the philosopher Benedetto Croce argued that socialism revitalized the political landscape and affected every aspect of intellectual life in Italy. Yet there was a space which socialism could not penetrate: literature. Croce was responding explicitly to Frederick Engels's preface to the Italian edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1893). Engels claimed that, just as medieval Italy was the cradle [End Page 176] of capitalism and Dante its poet, at the end of the nineteenth century Italy was awaiting the Dante of socialism (Engels 1893). For Croce, conversely, poetry was irreducible to economics, and Dante's gaze at the past was precisely what made him a poet: "Dante era uno spirito doloroso, in contrasto coi suoi tempi, e rivolto romanticamente al passato, e perciò fu poeta" (Croce 1991 [1927]: 207–8). Croce and Engels exemplify the two main approaches that twentiethcentury scholars have taken to Dante and economics. On the one hand, Dante is presented as resistant to the rising monetary economy, rescuing the Empire and the Church in an anachronistic attempt to reform the system and preserve a declining medieval world. On the other, Dante emerges as a champion of progress: capitalist, modern, socialist or democratic, sometimes aligned with the poor and sometimes with the wealthy class. The contradictions apparent across these conclusions raise the question: what exactly does it mean to investigate Dante and economics? As we know, economics was not a separate discipline in the Middle Ages. What we understand today as "economics" was then a set of rules and aspects intertwined with theology, philosophy, and broader moral concerns (Lambertini 2019), encompassing questions of the circulation and distribution of resources, the determination of value, the nature and fairness of exchange, monetary policies, and legislation. Dante certainly engages with these themes in his works: he stages and envisions systems of distribution; he presents sins such as avarice, simony, usury, and greed; he uses language and metaphors involving trade, usury, and debt; he represents money, and takes sides in the theorization of excess and moderation, trade and gift. These matters were particularly important in the context of late medieval Florence, a city under transformation, with an increasing population, a growing economy, and an expanding trade network (Faini 2010, Day Jr. 2015; Goldthwaite 2009; Caferro 2020). So where was Dante standing in relationship to this world in flux? Was he aware of the significant financial shifts and techniques that Florence was witnessing and developing at this time? Did he reject or embrace the economic changes that made the Florentine economy so influential?
Dante’s poetics of migration resonates with the same migrants camped near the poet’s tomb in Rave... more Dante’s poetics of migration resonates with the same migrants camped near the poet’s tomb in Ravenna and the current migrant crisis between Italy and Africa. The poet frequently refers to ‘refugees’: souls who flee or migrate towards a final resting place, the Celestial Rose in Paradise. The migrants located in Ravenna and other places in northern Italy, vis-à-vis Dante, are souls in exile. Camped near the exiled poet’s final resting place, they migrate towards an unknown destination, without the certainty of arriving in a promised land. I begin by unraveling the knot of allusive references in mainstream journalism, and then move to Dante’s poem to consider how the pilgrim is described as a refugee. I conclude with a consideration of Simon Njami’s 2014-15 exhibit catalogue, The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary Artists, to find shared artistic ground between these bodies in transit.
Dante Beyond Borders: Contexts and Reception (edited by Nick Havely and Jonathan Katz) Published by Legenda, 2021
This chapter begins by examining the critical tradition on the ignavi of Inferno 3, the nature of... more This chapter begins by examining the critical tradition on the ignavi of Inferno 3, the nature of their failing, and the theological basis for their punishment. The essay then surveys a variety of references made by American political leaders and preachers to the ignavi, appropriations which display varying degrees of familiarity with Dante's poem. I then consider the positions of American philosophers and gender theorists on the ignavi within debates over feminism and Western-centric social and civil rights movements. In my conclusion, I consider two contemporary examples from 21st-century American politics: one, which begs the "application" of Dante's definition of cowardice as a civic sin, and the other, the most recent political appropriation of Inferno 3.
For a novella whose protagonist is renowned for the silence with which she confronts her tragic d... more For a novella whose protagonist is renowned for the silence with which she confronts her tragic destiny, the fortuna of the fifth tale of the Fourth Day, the tale of Lisabetta da Messina, has suffered no such fate. Its critical reception can be described as polyvocal, as it is distinguished by a variety of approaches: structuralist, formalist, sociological, and psychological – just to name those that appear, for example, in the edited volume dedicated to IV.5, Il testo moltiplicato: Lettura di una novella del Decameron. The fortuna of this tale – claimed by Terzoli to be the first to inaugurate the motif of a dismembered head placed into a vase – also boasts literary, visual and cinematic adaptations over the centuries. Authors and artists ranging from the poet Hans Sachs (whose interpretations of the tale between 1515 to 1548 inspired the folkloric ballad “The Bramble Briar”) , John Keats (“Isabella, Or the Pot of Basil,” 1818) to the Pre-Raphaelite artists inspired by his poem – John Everett Millais (Isabella, 1849), William Holman Hunt (Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1866-1868), and the “modern” Pre-Raphaelite John William Waterhouse (Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1907) – to Pier Paolo Pasolini (who adapts this tale in his Decameron, 1971) have added their voices to Boccaccio’s narrative (vis-à-vis Filomena) in rewriting his tale to the sonnet form, canvas, or movie screen. This rich afterlife affirms IV.5’s status among the most studied and interpreted of the Decameron, such as those of Alatiel (II.10) and Griselda (X.10). I begin by discussing how this novella shows the fate of various hybrids that populate the story on thematic and formalist levels (the basil plant and the head; the love affair of a Pisan and a Messinese whose ancestry is Tuscan; the canzone and the novella). While most of the hybrids that exist within the world of the novella are undone with violence, only the integrity of the generic hybrid of the novella and the canzone survives, thriving, as it does, in the satisfied reaction of the brigata at the beginning of IV.6. The essay then moves to read the novella within the macro-textual context of the Decameron while taking historical and sociological contexts into consideration. Decameron IV.5 not only highlights the brutal logic of the merchant class, as Vittore Branca famously stated, but it also evokes the physical structures of the merchant world, namely in the evocation of the merchant colonies called the fondaci that appear in few other canonical texts from that time. In further contemplating the symbolism of Lorenzo’s decapitated head, which has been interpreted as a saintly remain (Branca, Marcus, Terzoli), I read this novella as a tale of relics, from the unsettled fate of Lorenzo’s head to the false relics of San Lorenzo in VI.10 that form an unlikely counterpart. In conclusion, this essay treats the character of Lisabetta as a literary hybrid figure of sorts, whose identity is split between those of the restricted women of the Proem, to that of an author herself.
Approaches to Teaching Dante's Divine Comedy, second edition, 2020
Students reading the Divine Comedy in the 21st century, especially those not familiarity with the... more Students reading the Divine Comedy in the 21st century, especially those not familiarity with the study of medieval misogyny, are often puzzled by Dante’s stance on women given the plurality of perspectives offered by the poem. They find it hard to reconcile diverse, and often seemingly contradictory, elements, such as: his characterization of women in the afterlife, such as Beatrice, Francesca da Rimini (Inf. 5), the “femmina balba” (Purg. 19), Matelda (Earthly Paradise), and Piccarda Donati (Par. 3); invectives against the immorality of contemporary Florentine women (Purg. 23 and Par. 15); the misogynist language of political invective which often likens political decadence to female sexuality (Purg. 6; Purg. 16); and the perceived gender of literary language itself, which he describes in the De vulgari eloquentia as originating in a female vernacular tongue (he also characterizes the Aeneid as a “nutrice,” or nurse, in Purg. 21). In an attempt to lead students to a more nuanced understanding of women and gender in the Commedia that moves beyond designations of feminism and misogyny, I instruct them to approach questions of gender and his incorporation of women and the “feminine” in different modes: in terms of an historicized poetics (the relationship between the fictional and the historical for women located in his afterlife); political rhetoric (the creation of a historiography that alternately depends upon female and male morality); and language (the significance of a maternal vernacular). In my essay, I share how I approach these three aspects by a careful examination of the textual moments cited above.
Boccaccio combined political and economic discourse – one that remembers rulers for their acts of... more Boccaccio combined political and economic discourse – one that remembers rulers for their acts of greed or liberality – in his fictional biographies of Angevin rulers in Naples. This essay explores how this historiographical mode takes inspiration from the works of Dante, including the Commedia, the Trattatello, and, perhaps most importantly, the Monarchia, despite the temporal and political differences between himself and his greatest Florentine predecessor. By examining the figures of Charles I, his son Charles II, and Robert I, King of Naples, one can observe how Boccaccio sublimates these differences with Dante as he develops an ethical language around governance. Boccaccio responds closely to the Florentine poet’s presentation of these individuals in the Commedia, indicating possible contradictions in Dante’s accounts. To put it simply, Boccaccio’s revisions of Dante’s political history are nuanced and innovative, conflating ethics, economics, politics, and the lives of poets – similar to how Boccaccio related to the Mezzogiorno in his own life, as a symptom of the larger geopolitical situation between Florence and Naples.
Nelle biografie dei sovrani angioini – ricordati per le loro azioni avide o liberali – Boccaccio unisce il discorso politico a quello economico. In questo saggio analizziamo come questo metodo storiografico si ispiri al Dante della Commedia, del Trattello e, soprattutto, della Monarchia nonostante vi sia una chiara distanza cronologica e ideologica con l’illustre modello fiorentino. Esaminando le figure di Carlo I, Carlo II e di Roberto I, dimostriamo come Boccaccio sia abile a stemperare le differenze con Dante e a sviluppare una propria analisi etica dell’azione di governo. Inoltre l’autore non si limita a riprendere da vicino la rappresentazione delle figure politiche fatta da Dante nella Commedia, ma ne indica anche le eventuali contraddizioni. Le revisioni della storia politica dantesca sono sottili ma innovative in quanto considerano anche l’etica, l’economia e la vita stessa dei poeti. Un metodo storiografico che Boccaccio apprese relazionandosi con l’ambiente napoletano e che utilizzò per meglio comprendere il contesto geopolitico tra Firenze e Napoli.
Le Tre Corone: Rivista internazionale di studi su Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio, 2019
Giovanni Boccaccio’s public lectures on Inferno 1 to 17, known as the Esposizioni, feature a comp... more Giovanni Boccaccio’s public lectures on Inferno 1 to 17, known as the Esposizioni, feature a compelling symmetry : at their beginning and (incomplete) ending, Boccaccio discusses the legendary generosity and textiles of the Tartars, both « questa spezie di panno […], oltre ad ogni altra, vilissima », which is felt (Esp.1.169) reputed to be used during Tartar funereal ceremonies, and the silk fabrics, « drappi tartareschi » (Esp.17), which had arrived in Italian cities by means of the Silk Road. While his knowledge of the region is through chronicles, second-hand accounts, and oral anecdotes, Boccaccio’s interpretation of legends regarding the Far East, influenced by Dante’s text and his own mercantile and cultural worlds, are an important dimension to his cultural project of “ethical geography” that can be found in many of his works. Both Dante and Boccaccio must have identified the Tartar textiles of important rulers and clergy, and Boccaccio would have recognized this “small pattern” style in the work of artists such as Simone Martini. By referring to the utopian realm of the Far East – geographically distant and ethically distinct, yet with a narrative and visual presence in his own times – Boccaccio holds up a mirror to Florentine and Neapolitan decadence.
Scholarship has traditionally taken for granted that the Italian historiographical tradition is r... more Scholarship has traditionally taken for granted that the Italian historiographical tradition is rhetorically based upon the virtues and vices of women, and a similar assumption has occasionally been made for the Commedia as well, though that totalizing vision has been challenged recently. When considered in the contexts of material consumption, Dante’s history of Florence is based upon the vices of both men and women, one that exists in dialogue with the governance of dress and ornamentation of the body, as scholars have noted. Two seminal moments in the Commedia speak to these political and social realities by lamenting the moral decadence of Florence, comparing past and present sumptuary mores: Forese Donati’s invective against the “sfacciate donne fiorentine” (Purg. 23.97–102), and, under examination here, Cacciaguida’s nostalgia for the prelapsarian age of Florence, which, among other social markers of integrity, did not have excessive ornamentation or luxurious clothing (Par. 15.100–117). The focus in Forese’s invective on the immodest dress of women expands to target both male and female dress in Cacciaguida’s description of the modest ways of Florentines who dwelled in the “cerchia antica.” Likewise, Cacciaguida’s reminiscence, which describes fashion trends on behalf of both sexes, should be interpreted within the political contexts from which they originate, as well as in terms of the history of its reception in the commentary tradition, as I argue in this essay. When read against the distortions of the commentary tradition of the Commedia and the chronicles, and then contextualized within fashion history and select sumptuary statutes, Cacciaguida’s history of Florence can be perceived to inculpate both men and women as the protagonists in the performance of new wealth. The inextricable relationship between Dante’s history of fashion and his political vision differentiates the Commedia from the moralizing, misogynistic tradition of these other narratives.
This paper considers the historical antecedent of Cardinal Latino’s specific interdiction against... more This paper considers the historical antecedent of Cardinal Latino’s specific interdiction against women’s clothing that exhibited frontal exposure as evoked by Forese Donati in Purgatorio 23, situating this interdiction within the history of sumptuary counsel and legislation. This gendered aspect of Dante’s history of Florence is informed by the political discourse of sumptu- ary excess amongst Florentine elite families and the tensions amongst such families, both those which had true claims to nobility (such as the Donati), and the upwardly mobile mercantile elite (such as the Cerchi). Dante’s choice of Forese Donati as the speaker of this invective carries implications for Dante’s political thought, as it reflects the concerns of the popolo more than those of elite families. This essay relates the intersection of political critique, concupiscence, and virility to the insufficient covering of Nella in the tenzone between Dante and Forese Donati and elsewhere in the Purgatorio, reading the exposed female body as a signifier of civic decadence and church corruption.
This presentation will be in Italian Per accedere alla presentzione: https://unc.zoom.us/j/950804... more This presentation will be in Italian Per accedere alla presentzione: https://unc.zoom.us/j/95080442156 martedì 21 settembre ore 11.30-12.30 ET.
On March 18, 2022 Kristin Olson, Maggie Ann Fritz-Morkin, David Lummus and Dennis Geronimus, pro... more On March 18, 2022 Kristin Olson, Maggie Ann Fritz-Morkin, David Lummus and Dennis Geronimus, professor of Art History at NYU and renowned scholar of Piero di Cosimo, are in conversation with R. Morosini on navigation and civilization in Boccaccio's Genealogy of the pagan gods and Piero di Cosimo's paintings that were mostly inspired by Boccaccio's erudite treatise.
The Online Paleography Seminars will involve methodological and practical components of Latin and... more The Online Paleography Seminars will involve methodological and practical components of Latin and vernacular paleography taught by experts in the field from a variety of Italian universities. The teaching program will include introductions to the major Florentine and Roman libraries; paleography classes using Latin and vernacular manuscripts, and transcription practice. Participants should be ABA members, affiliated with a North American university, and have good knowledge of the Italian language as the seminars will be conducted in Italian.
In anticipation of the 2022 Triennial Conference, and in light of current restrictions on travel ... more In anticipation of the 2022 Triennial Conference, and in light of current restrictions on travel and conference attendance, the American Boccaccio Association announces a new initiative: a series of monthly lectures on research-in-progress that deals with any topic related to Boccaccio's life and works.
American Boccaccio Association Forth Triennial Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Octob... more American Boccaccio Association Forth Triennial Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, October 3-6 2019.
"Boccaccio’s life, thought, works, and legacy in Italy and beyond".
We invite proposals for papers or panels (in English or Italian) on Boccaccio's life, thought, and works. Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings. All participants in the conference need to be members in good standing with the Association. Please send abstracts of 300 words along with a brief biographical note (100 words max) to the ABA Secretary, Professor Valerio Cappozzo (vcappozz@olemiss.edu) by March 3, 2019. Four travel grants of $250 each, sponsored by the American Boccaccio Association, are available for contingent faculty and graduate students who are currently preparing a thesis or dissertation on Boccaccio and would like to present at the conference. Interested parties should send a letter of application and updated CV, along with their proposed paper abstract.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Marco Cursi, University of Naples - Federico II; Marilyn Migiel, Cornell University; Michael Papio, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; H. Wayne Storey, Indiana University, Bloomington
Please consider submitting an abstract for one of the following sessions at the Annual Convention... more Please consider submitting an abstract for one of the following sessions at the Annual Convention of the Modern Language Association in Toronto (7-10 January 2021) organized by the LLC Medieval and Renaissance Italian Forum.
A one-day symposium to celebrate the legacy of Teodolinda Barolini’s seminal The Undivine Comedy:... more A one-day symposium to celebrate the legacy of Teodolinda Barolini’s seminal The Undivine Comedy: Detheologizing Dante, published by Princeton University Press (1992). This event brings together international perspectives on how Barolini’s book has shaped the field of Dante studies.
This event is open to the public and will be held in person at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University. It is sponsored by the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies and the Department of Italian, Columbia University.
The 136th Annual Meeting of the Dante Society and a day-long symposium, “‘Come il baccialier’: Qu... more The 136th Annual Meeting of the Dante Society and a day-long symposium, “‘Come il baccialier’: Questioning and Professing Dante,” will be held at Boston College on Saturday, May 5, 2018. For details, please see the attached flyer and the Meetings and Events section of our website. Registration is not required and there is no fee for attending. The symposium is free and open to the public.
_Dante’s Poets_, Teodolinda Barolini’s groundbreaking study of textuality and truth in the _Comme... more _Dante’s Poets_, Teodolinda Barolini’s groundbreaking study of textuality and truth in the _Commedia_, was published in 1984 and has profoundly influenced the field of Dante studies ever since. Dante’s Poets: Thirty Years Later is a one-day conference in honor of the book’s 30-year anniversary, featuring work by current and former students that responds to the critical paths charted out in the book, revisiting the ways in which Dante’s Poets continues to inform how we read and teach Dante today.
Presentazione del volume di Renzo Bragantini, "Il Decameron e il Medioevo rivoluzionario di Bocca... more Presentazione del volume di Renzo Bragantini, "Il Decameron e il Medioevo rivoluzionario di Boccaccio", Carocci, Roma, 2022
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The book examines how these literary narratives compare with other historical accounts from those times, for instance, in the chronicles of Dino Compagni and Giovanni Villani, and the blurred line between history and fiction, and the sociological and the literary, when authors discuss a golden age marked by generosity, and a present day cursed by incivility and violence. Courtesy Lost attends to this development in the idea of civility by viewing these literary works both as products of their historical contexts and as a part of historiography itself.
Dante and Economics
COORDINATED BY ANTONIO MONTEFUSCO AND FILIPPO PETRICCA; CONTRIBUTIONS BY Kristina M. Olson, William Caferro, Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Giacomo Todeschini, Enrico Fenzi, Juan Varela-Portas De Orduña, Ronald L. Martinez
In 1927, the philosopher Benedetto Croce argued that socialism revitalized the political landscape and affected every aspect of intellectual life in Italy. Yet there was a space which socialism could not penetrate: literature. Croce was responding explicitly to Frederick Engels's preface to the Italian edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1893). Engels claimed that, just as medieval Italy was the cradle [End Page 176] of capitalism and Dante its poet, at the end of the nineteenth century Italy was awaiting the Dante of socialism (Engels 1893). For Croce, conversely, poetry was irreducible to economics, and Dante's gaze at the past was precisely what made him a poet: "Dante era uno spirito doloroso, in contrasto coi suoi tempi, e rivolto romanticamente al passato, e perciò fu poeta" (Croce 1991 [1927]: 207–8).
Croce and Engels exemplify the two main approaches that twentiethcentury scholars have taken to Dante and economics. On the one hand, Dante is presented as resistant to the rising monetary economy, rescuing the Empire and the Church in an anachronistic attempt to reform the system and preserve a declining medieval world. On the other, Dante emerges as a champion of progress: capitalist, modern, socialist or democratic, sometimes aligned with the poor and sometimes with the wealthy class. The contradictions apparent across these conclusions raise the question: what exactly does it mean to investigate Dante and economics? As we know, economics was not a separate discipline in the Middle Ages. What we understand today as "economics" was then a set of rules and aspects intertwined with theology, philosophy, and broader moral concerns (Lambertini 2019), encompassing questions of the circulation and distribution of resources, the determination of value, the nature and fairness of exchange, monetary policies, and legislation. Dante certainly engages with these themes in his works: he stages and envisions systems of distribution; he presents sins such as avarice, simony, usury, and greed; he uses language and metaphors involving trade, usury, and debt; he represents money, and takes sides in the theorization of excess and moderation, trade and gift. These matters were particularly important in the context of late medieval Florence, a city under transformation, with an increasing population, a growing economy, and an expanding trade network (Faini 2010, Day Jr. 2015; Goldthwaite 2009; Caferro 2020). So where was Dante standing in relationship to this world in flux? Was he aware of the significant financial shifts and techniques that Florence was witnessing and developing at this time? Did he reject or embrace the economic changes that made the Florentine economy so influential?
I begin by discussing how this novella shows the fate of various hybrids that populate the story on thematic and formalist levels (the basil plant and the head; the love affair of a Pisan and a Messinese whose ancestry is Tuscan; the canzone and the novella). While most of the hybrids that exist within the world of the novella are undone with violence, only the integrity of the generic hybrid of the novella and the canzone survives, thriving, as it does, in the satisfied reaction of the brigata at the beginning of IV.6. The essay then moves to read the novella within the macro-textual context of the Decameron while taking historical and sociological contexts into consideration. Decameron IV.5 not only highlights the brutal logic of the merchant class, as Vittore Branca famously stated, but it also evokes the physical structures of the merchant world, namely in the evocation of the merchant colonies called the fondaci that appear in few other canonical texts from that time. In further contemplating the symbolism of Lorenzo’s decapitated head, which has been interpreted as a saintly remain (Branca, Marcus, Terzoli), I read this novella as a tale of relics, from the unsettled fate of Lorenzo’s head to the false relics of San Lorenzo in VI.10 that form an unlikely counterpart. In conclusion, this essay treats the character of Lisabetta as a literary hybrid figure of sorts, whose identity is split between those of the restricted women of the Proem, to that of an author herself.
Nelle biografie dei sovrani angioini – ricordati per le loro azioni avide o liberali – Boccaccio unisce il discorso politico a quello economico. In questo saggio analizziamo come questo metodo storiografico si ispiri al Dante della Commedia, del Trattello e, soprattutto, della Monarchia nonostante vi sia una chiara distanza cronologica e ideologica con l’illustre modello fiorentino. Esaminando le figure di Carlo I, Carlo II e di Roberto I, dimostriamo come Boccaccio sia abile a stemperare le differenze con Dante e a sviluppare una propria analisi etica dell’azione di governo. Inoltre l’autore non si limita a riprendere da vicino la rappresentazione delle figure politiche fatta da Dante nella Commedia, ma ne indica anche le eventuali contraddizioni. Le revisioni della storia politica dantesca sono sottili ma innovative in quanto considerano anche l’etica, l’economia e la vita stessa dei poeti. Un metodo storiografico che Boccaccio apprese relazionandosi con l’ambiente napoletano e che utilizzò per meglio comprendere il contesto geopolitico tra Firenze e Napoli.
discusses the legendary generosity and textiles of the Tartars, both « questa spezie di panno […], oltre ad ogni altra, vilissima », which is felt (Esp.1.169) reputed to be used during Tartar funereal ceremonies, and the silk fabrics, « drappi tartareschi » (Esp.17), which had
arrived in Italian cities by means of the Silk Road. While his knowledge of the region is through chronicles, second-hand accounts, and oral anecdotes, Boccaccio’s interpretation of legends regarding the Far East, influenced by Dante’s text and his own mercantile and cultural worlds, are an important dimension to his cultural project of “ethical geography” that can be found in many of his works. Both Dante and Boccaccio must have identified
the Tartar textiles of important rulers and clergy, and Boccaccio would have recognized this “small pattern” style in the work of artists such as Simone Martini. By referring to the utopian realm of the Far East – geographically distant and ethically distinct, yet with a narrative and visual presence in his own times – Boccaccio holds up a mirror to Florentine and Neapolitan decadence.
The book examines how these literary narratives compare with other historical accounts from those times, for instance, in the chronicles of Dino Compagni and Giovanni Villani, and the blurred line between history and fiction, and the sociological and the literary, when authors discuss a golden age marked by generosity, and a present day cursed by incivility and violence. Courtesy Lost attends to this development in the idea of civility by viewing these literary works both as products of their historical contexts and as a part of historiography itself.
Dante and Economics
COORDINATED BY ANTONIO MONTEFUSCO AND FILIPPO PETRICCA; CONTRIBUTIONS BY Kristina M. Olson, William Caferro, Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Giacomo Todeschini, Enrico Fenzi, Juan Varela-Portas De Orduña, Ronald L. Martinez
In 1927, the philosopher Benedetto Croce argued that socialism revitalized the political landscape and affected every aspect of intellectual life in Italy. Yet there was a space which socialism could not penetrate: literature. Croce was responding explicitly to Frederick Engels's preface to the Italian edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party (1893). Engels claimed that, just as medieval Italy was the cradle [End Page 176] of capitalism and Dante its poet, at the end of the nineteenth century Italy was awaiting the Dante of socialism (Engels 1893). For Croce, conversely, poetry was irreducible to economics, and Dante's gaze at the past was precisely what made him a poet: "Dante era uno spirito doloroso, in contrasto coi suoi tempi, e rivolto romanticamente al passato, e perciò fu poeta" (Croce 1991 [1927]: 207–8).
Croce and Engels exemplify the two main approaches that twentiethcentury scholars have taken to Dante and economics. On the one hand, Dante is presented as resistant to the rising monetary economy, rescuing the Empire and the Church in an anachronistic attempt to reform the system and preserve a declining medieval world. On the other, Dante emerges as a champion of progress: capitalist, modern, socialist or democratic, sometimes aligned with the poor and sometimes with the wealthy class. The contradictions apparent across these conclusions raise the question: what exactly does it mean to investigate Dante and economics? As we know, economics was not a separate discipline in the Middle Ages. What we understand today as "economics" was then a set of rules and aspects intertwined with theology, philosophy, and broader moral concerns (Lambertini 2019), encompassing questions of the circulation and distribution of resources, the determination of value, the nature and fairness of exchange, monetary policies, and legislation. Dante certainly engages with these themes in his works: he stages and envisions systems of distribution; he presents sins such as avarice, simony, usury, and greed; he uses language and metaphors involving trade, usury, and debt; he represents money, and takes sides in the theorization of excess and moderation, trade and gift. These matters were particularly important in the context of late medieval Florence, a city under transformation, with an increasing population, a growing economy, and an expanding trade network (Faini 2010, Day Jr. 2015; Goldthwaite 2009; Caferro 2020). So where was Dante standing in relationship to this world in flux? Was he aware of the significant financial shifts and techniques that Florence was witnessing and developing at this time? Did he reject or embrace the economic changes that made the Florentine economy so influential?
I begin by discussing how this novella shows the fate of various hybrids that populate the story on thematic and formalist levels (the basil plant and the head; the love affair of a Pisan and a Messinese whose ancestry is Tuscan; the canzone and the novella). While most of the hybrids that exist within the world of the novella are undone with violence, only the integrity of the generic hybrid of the novella and the canzone survives, thriving, as it does, in the satisfied reaction of the brigata at the beginning of IV.6. The essay then moves to read the novella within the macro-textual context of the Decameron while taking historical and sociological contexts into consideration. Decameron IV.5 not only highlights the brutal logic of the merchant class, as Vittore Branca famously stated, but it also evokes the physical structures of the merchant world, namely in the evocation of the merchant colonies called the fondaci that appear in few other canonical texts from that time. In further contemplating the symbolism of Lorenzo’s decapitated head, which has been interpreted as a saintly remain (Branca, Marcus, Terzoli), I read this novella as a tale of relics, from the unsettled fate of Lorenzo’s head to the false relics of San Lorenzo in VI.10 that form an unlikely counterpart. In conclusion, this essay treats the character of Lisabetta as a literary hybrid figure of sorts, whose identity is split between those of the restricted women of the Proem, to that of an author herself.
Nelle biografie dei sovrani angioini – ricordati per le loro azioni avide o liberali – Boccaccio unisce il discorso politico a quello economico. In questo saggio analizziamo come questo metodo storiografico si ispiri al Dante della Commedia, del Trattello e, soprattutto, della Monarchia nonostante vi sia una chiara distanza cronologica e ideologica con l’illustre modello fiorentino. Esaminando le figure di Carlo I, Carlo II e di Roberto I, dimostriamo come Boccaccio sia abile a stemperare le differenze con Dante e a sviluppare una propria analisi etica dell’azione di governo. Inoltre l’autore non si limita a riprendere da vicino la rappresentazione delle figure politiche fatta da Dante nella Commedia, ma ne indica anche le eventuali contraddizioni. Le revisioni della storia politica dantesca sono sottili ma innovative in quanto considerano anche l’etica, l’economia e la vita stessa dei poeti. Un metodo storiografico che Boccaccio apprese relazionandosi con l’ambiente napoletano e che utilizzò per meglio comprendere il contesto geopolitico tra Firenze e Napoli.
discusses the legendary generosity and textiles of the Tartars, both « questa spezie di panno […], oltre ad ogni altra, vilissima », which is felt (Esp.1.169) reputed to be used during Tartar funereal ceremonies, and the silk fabrics, « drappi tartareschi » (Esp.17), which had
arrived in Italian cities by means of the Silk Road. While his knowledge of the region is through chronicles, second-hand accounts, and oral anecdotes, Boccaccio’s interpretation of legends regarding the Far East, influenced by Dante’s text and his own mercantile and cultural worlds, are an important dimension to his cultural project of “ethical geography” that can be found in many of his works. Both Dante and Boccaccio must have identified
the Tartar textiles of important rulers and clergy, and Boccaccio would have recognized this “small pattern” style in the work of artists such as Simone Martini. By referring to the utopian realm of the Far East – geographically distant and ethically distinct, yet with a narrative and visual presence in his own times – Boccaccio holds up a mirror to Florentine and Neapolitan decadence.
"Boccaccio’s life, thought, works, and legacy in Italy and beyond".
We invite proposals for papers or panels (in English or Italian) on Boccaccio's life, thought, and works. Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings. All participants in the conference need to be members in good standing with the Association.
Please send abstracts of 300 words along with a brief biographical note (100 words max) to the ABA Secretary, Professor Valerio Cappozzo (vcappozz@olemiss.edu) by March 3, 2019. Four travel grants of $250 each, sponsored by the American Boccaccio Association, are available for contingent faculty and graduate students who are currently preparing a thesis or dissertation on Boccaccio and would like to present at the conference. Interested parties should send a letter of application and updated CV, along with their proposed paper abstract.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Marco Cursi, University of Naples - Federico II; Marilyn Migiel, Cornell University; Michael Papio, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; H. Wayne Storey, Indiana University, Bloomington
This event is open to the public and will be held in person at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies, Columbia University. It is sponsored by the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies and the Department of Italian, Columbia University.