Boccaccio's Naked Muse

Eros, Culture, and the Mythopoeic Imagination

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, Italian
Cover of the book Boccaccio's Naked Muse by Tobias Foster Gittes, University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Tobias Foster Gittes ISBN: 9781442691438
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division Publication: April 5, 2008
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Tobias Foster Gittes
ISBN: 9781442691438
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Publication: April 5, 2008
Imprint:
Language: English

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) experimented with such a wide variety of genres that critics have tended to focus more on the differences among his works than on their underlying similarities. However, a more comprehensive examination of his corpus reveals that concealed beneath this striking diversity of subject and genre there is a coherent mythology, a virtual catalogue of innovative myths designed to more accurately reflect his cultural experience and better address the needs of his age.

Exploring the most significant of these myths, Boccaccio's Naked Muse presents a writer who cast himself as the apostle of a new humanistic faith, one that would honour God by exalting his creation. Tobias Foster Gittes argues that Boccaccio did not simply reproduce Golden Age schemes in his works. Rather, he subtly altered and adapted them in order to produce a model of human beatitude more suited to his conviction that cultural achievement and human dignity are indissolubly linked. Gittes critiques common conceptions of Boccaccio's passivity, or his readiness to speak dismissively of his own work and to cast himself as a victim of vicious critics. Instead, Gittes shows that Boccaccio deliberately assumed this posture of passivity to align himself with a series of martyrs who, like him, had willingly suffered torments in the interest of cultural advancement.

By venturing outside the Decameron to the Latin works, and outside the usual textual and intertextual readings of Boccaccio to more broadly cultural and anthropological material, Boccaccio's Naked Muse offers fresh insights on this hugely significant literary figure and his lifelong campaign to transform mythological traditions into a gift for all humanity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) experimented with such a wide variety of genres that critics have tended to focus more on the differences among his works than on their underlying similarities. However, a more comprehensive examination of his corpus reveals that concealed beneath this striking diversity of subject and genre there is a coherent mythology, a virtual catalogue of innovative myths designed to more accurately reflect his cultural experience and better address the needs of his age.

Exploring the most significant of these myths, Boccaccio's Naked Muse presents a writer who cast himself as the apostle of a new humanistic faith, one that would honour God by exalting his creation. Tobias Foster Gittes argues that Boccaccio did not simply reproduce Golden Age schemes in his works. Rather, he subtly altered and adapted them in order to produce a model of human beatitude more suited to his conviction that cultural achievement and human dignity are indissolubly linked. Gittes critiques common conceptions of Boccaccio's passivity, or his readiness to speak dismissively of his own work and to cast himself as a victim of vicious critics. Instead, Gittes shows that Boccaccio deliberately assumed this posture of passivity to align himself with a series of martyrs who, like him, had willingly suffered torments in the interest of cultural advancement.

By venturing outside the Decameron to the Latin works, and outside the usual textual and intertextual readings of Boccaccio to more broadly cultural and anthropological material, Boccaccio's Naked Muse offers fresh insights on this hugely significant literary figure and his lifelong campaign to transform mythological traditions into a gift for all humanity.

More books from University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division

Cover of the book The Decameron Third Day in Perspective by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Daniel Defoe, Contrarian by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Reading Canadian Women’s and Gender History by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Some Facets of King Lear by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Heidegger's Possibility by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book The Black Loyalists by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Lonergan and Kant by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book No Dogs in China by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Philanthropy and the Construction of Victorian Women's Citizenship by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book These Strange Criminals by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Elements of Environmental Management by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book The German Novel, 1939-1944 by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book The Moral Economy of Cities by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book Understanding the Social Economy by Tobias Foster Gittes
Cover of the book But This is Our War by Tobias Foster Gittes
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy