Ariosto today : contemporary perspectives / edited by Donald Beecher, Massimo Ciavolella, and Roberto Fedi.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This collection of essays brings together twelve noted Italian and American scholars to provide a complete picture of Ariosto and all his works as an integration of tradition and invention.

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CHOICE Review

Although Ludovico Ariosto may no longer enjoy the widespread renown--once exceeding even Dante's--that was his a century or two ago, his work remains a crucial touchstone for critical response to the Italian Renaissance, as this outstanding collection of articles amply demonstrates. A baker's dozen of Italian and North American scholars cover topics ranging from the precursors, genesis, composition, thematics and reception (in theater, cinema, and Italo Calvino's fiction and criticism) of Ariosto's masterpiece, Orlando furioso, to his plays, lyric poetry, and social standing at the Este court in 16th-century Ferrara. All the articles are either new or (in two cases) newly translated or rewritten. As well as offering a useful overview of the current state of play in Ariosto studies, the volume, as a whole, inspires a compelling reappraisal of Ariosto as at once a continuator and a force for renewal in Italian literary tradition. Only the inexplicable decision not to provide an index detracts from this book's immense value. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. S. Botterill University of California, Berkeley