The Image of Antiquity in Boccaccio's «Filocolo, Filostrato» and «Teseida» (Studies in Italian Culture) - Hardcover

McGregor, James H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820409855 ISBN 13: 9780820409856

Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 1991

Synopsis

This book argues that in three of his early vernacular romances, Boccaccio, working with descriptive language, not with sketches or plastic imitations, presented to his contemporaries for the first time a vast and persuasive picture of an essential aspect of Greek and Roman Antiquity, the details of pre-Christian religious practices. Imitating literary works where the Romans described these practices, Boccaccio represented the ritual and physical details of pagan worship with its temples, cult images, altars, prayers and animal sacrifices. Such detailing is the necessary prelude to the many acts of imitation of the Antique that so preoccupied the painters, sculptors and decorative artists of the Renaissance. In it lies the beginning of modern archaeology.

About this title

About the Author:

The Author: James H. McGregor is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. His articles on Boccaccio have appeared in leading journals in the U.S. and Italy. He has a Ph.D. from Princeton University and was a Fellow in Post-Classical Humanistic Studies at the American Academy in Rome, 1981-82. In 1984-85, he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Italian at the University of California-Berkeley.

Review:

«In his book, McGregor has been able to retrace the exact route of Boccaccio's itinerary into the myths, the characters and the ideals of the ancient world. He clearly and persuasively shows that Boccaccio's minute assembling of data and notions develops into a much more significant recovery of cultural values, i.e., into a spiritual growth. The book is the most serious and comprehensive study ever written on Boccaccio's 'Neapolitan' works in this country, and the only one that will get full attention and lasting recognition among Italian critics.» (Gian Paolo Biasin, University of California-Berkeley)
«Resulta un libro muy curioso y entretenido, que nos muestra con toda evidencia la presencia e influencia de los clásicos en esas tres obras del escritor italiano.» (José Ortall, Augustinus)
«The happy effect of this study is to draw closely together Boccaccio's scholarly work and his writing of fiction. McGregor's volume is a useful contribution to our understanding of this major writer and of his enormous impact on succeeding generations.» (Janet L. Smarr, Renaissance Quarterly)
«The quality of 'The Image of Antiquity in Boccaccio' bodes well for the series of which it is the inaugural volume.» (Dennis Looney, Speculum)

About this edition

• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0820409855
• ISBN 13: 9780820409856
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 202