The Reception of Aristotles Poetics in the Italian Renaissance and Beyond: New Directions in Criticism

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Using new and cutting-edge perspectives, this book explores literary criticism and the reception of Aristotle's Poetics in early modern Italy. Written by leading international scholars, the chapters examine the current state of the field and set out new directions for future study. The reception of classical texts of literary criticism, such as Horaces Ars Poetica, Longinus's On the Sublime, and most importantly, Aristotles Poetics was a crucial part of the intellectual culture of Renaissance Italy. Revisiting the translations, commentaries, lectures, and polemic treatises produced, the contributors apply new interdisciplinary methods from book history, translation studies, history of the emotions and classical reception to them. Placing several early modern Italian poetic texts in dialogue with twentieth-century literary theory for the first time, The Reception of Aristotles Poetics in the Italian Renaissance and Beyond models contemporary practice and maps out avenues for future study.

Reviews

A tool kit to be used by poets working to build new forms and by readers working to make sense of them. * The Classical Review *
The volume constitutes a major step forward in the study of early modern poetics, offering not only fresh insight into the intellectual world of the Renaissance but also a productive (and long overdue) reassessment of modern scholarly approaches to the field. By tackling Renaissance poetics from a variety of cross-disciplinary perspectives, this book redefines the place of literary criticism in early modern culture and sheds light on its relevance to the making of modern discourses about the interplay of literature and the world. -- Eugenio Refini, Assistant Professor of Italian Studies, New York University, USA
A timely and significant reengagement with Renaissance poetic theory in Italy, this volume offers a fresh and genuinely interdisciplinary take on a constituent element of early modern culture. The volumes three main sections offer readers a series of engaging case studies which put early modern critical materials and contemporary theories and methodologies into direct conversation with each other. The collection as a whole relaunches the critical conversation on Renaissance Italys poetic theory, moving it beyond where Bernard Weinberg left it, with vision and ambition. -- Claudia Rossignoli, Lecturer in Italian Studies, University of St Andrews, UK

Author Bio

Bryan Brazeau is Senior Teaching Fellow in Liberal Arts, University of Warwick, UK.