The emergence of Italian humanism, 1321-1475 / Jane Chance.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

With this volume, Jane Chance concludes her monumental study of the history of mythography in medieval literature. Her focus here is the advent of hybrid mythography, the transformation of mythological commentary by blending the scholarly with the courtly and the personal.

Chance's in-depth examination of works by the major writers of the period--including Dante, Boccaccio, and Christine de Pizan--demonstrates how they essentially co-opted a thousand-year tradition. Their intricate narratives of identity mixed commentary with poetry; reinterpreted classical gods and heroes to suit personal agendas; and gave rise to innovative techniques such as "inglossation," the use of a mythological figure to comment on the protagonist within an autobiographical allegory. In this manner, through allegorical authorial projection of the self, the poets explored a subjective world and manifested a burgeoning humanism that would eventually come to full fruition in the Renaissance.

No other work examines the mythographic interrelationships between these poets and their unique and personal approaches to mythological commentary.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In this volume of her learned Medieval Mythography--v.1 (CH, Jan'95, 32-2457); v.2 (CH, May'01, 38-4885)--Chance (emer., Rice Univ.) moves from the early 14th century (Dante) through the late 15th (with Cristoforo Landino) in showing how each of a series of authors in Italy and France transformed mythological analysis into a vehicle for the presentation of the author's selfhood. Chance has good things to say about every work she touches, including the Divine Comedy, which, she memorably remarks, "represents the highest form of autobiography ... a commentary turned skin-side out." But the key figure in the study is Christine de Pizan, "the first woman mythographer," who, Chance writes, consistently "disgenders the poetic authority of her predecessors." Indeed the central chapters of the volume amount to a good small book on Christine. This volume will be especially useful for those desiring an orientation on medieval allegory--the bibliography and notes also add up to a book in themselves and direct readers to major primary and secondary materials, including quite recent translations of medieval commentators. Faculty will particularly benefit from Chance's detailed exploration of how Christine handles her literary models; welcome guidance abounds here for classroom and lecture comparative readings. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Eugene D. Hill, Mount Holyoke College