Mirabile Dictu: Representations of the Marvelous in Medieval and Renaissance EpicUniversity of Michigan Press, 1996 - 199 sider Mirabile Dictu covers in six separate chapters the works of Virgil, Dante, Boccaccio, Ariosto, Tasso, and Spenser. Its broad aim is to provide a select cross-section of works in the Middle Ages and Renaissance in order systematically to examine and compare for the first time the marvelous in the light of epic genre, of literary and critical theory (both past and present), and of historically and culturally determined representational practices. Douglas Biow organizes this volume around the literary topos of the bleeding branch through which a metamorphosed person speaks. In each chapter the author takes this "marvellous event" as his starting point for a broad-ranging comparison of the several poets who employed the image; he also investigates the ways in which a period's notion of "history" underpins its representations of the marvelous. This method offers a controlled yet flexible framework within which to develop readings that engage a multiplicity of theories and approaches. Mirabile Dictu offers not only an insightful survey of the literary connections among this group of important poets, but also a useful point of departure for scholars and students intrigued by the reuse of epic conventions, by the peculiar role of "marvellous" events in dramatic poetry, and by the later history of classical literature. Douglas Biow is Assistant Professor of Italian and Comparative Literature, University of Texas, Austin. |
Indhold
Introduction | 1 |
Marvels Violence | 13 |
From Ignorance to Knowledge | 37 |
Copyright | |
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Aeneas Aeneas's Aeneid Allegory appears Ariosto Astolfo become begin believe bleeding blood Boccaccio body branch canto causes Chicago Christian claims Commedia Dante Dante's death Decameron desire discussion epic exchange experience fear figure Filocolo finally Florence forest Furioso give hand human imagination individual issues Italy knight knowledge land language Liberata literary marvels meaning mind move narrator nature never notes object offer once opening operate poem poet poet's Poetics Polydorus Polydorus episode presence Princeton proem reader reading Redcrosse remains Renaissance represent reveal rhetorical Rinaldo romance Ruggiero seeks sense Servius ships social Spenser's Tarolfo Tasso tell things tion trans transformed tree Troy truth turn University Press Virgil vision voice voyage wayfarer wealth wonder wondrous woods