Oration on the Dignity of Man: A New Translation and Commentary

This is a new translation of and commentary on Pico della Mirandola's most famous work, the Oration on the Dignity of Man. It is the first English edition to provide readers with substantial notes on the text, essays that address the work's historical, philosophical, and theological context, and a survey of its reception. Often called the “Manifesto of the Renaissance,” this brief but complex text was originally composed in 1486 as the inaugural speech for an assembly of intellectuals, which could have produced one of the most exhaustive metaphysical, theological, and psychological debates in history, had Pope Innocent VIII not forbidden it. This edition of the Oration reflects the spirit of the original text in bringing together experts in different fields. Not unlike the debate Pico optimistically anticipated, the resulting work is superior to the sum of its parts.

Francesco Borghesi teaches in the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney. Among his publications are Concordia, pietas, docta religio (2004) and the forthcoming Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (2012).

Michael Papio is an Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of Keen and Violent Remedies: Social Satire and the Grotesque in Masuccio Salernitano's Novellino (2000) and the translator of Boccaccio's Expositions on Dante's Comedy (2009).

Massimo Riva is a Professor of Italian Studies at Brown University, Rhode Island. He has also taught at the University of Sydney, Australia, Northwestern University, Illinois, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of Italian Tales: An Anthology of Contemporary Italian Fiction (2004) and co-editor of Renato Poggioli: An Intellectual Life (2011).