La stanza della memoria: amore e malattia nel Secretum e nei Rerum vulgarium fragmenta

Il saggio analizza il ruolo dell'immaginazione e dell'immagine (phantasia, phantasma) nel Secretum e in quattro sonetti scelti dai Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta rifacendosi alle concezioni sulle passioni sviluppate da Aristotele e Galeno e poi riprese dai medici e dai filosofi naturali arabi e scolastici.The essay analyses the role of the imagination and of the image («phantasia», «phantasma») in the Secretum and in four sonnets of the Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta according to the conception of passions developed by Aristotle and Galen, and later inherited by Arabic and Scholastic physicians and natural philosophers

Die Leser des ›Secretum‹ im 15. Jahrhundert Außerhalb Italiens. Beobachtungen anhand der Handschriften

In this article the catalogue entries of Petrarch's ›Secretum‹ manuscripts in England, France, the German area - including Bohemia - and Spain are examined in order to find clues about the work's audience. It becomes apparent that it is not possible to distinguish (as has occasionally been done) between a monastic and a humanistic audience of Petrarch's Latin oeuvre. The ›Secretum‹ was often read in the cloister and the author explores the causes of this interest. She argues that Petrarch begins this work by evoking conventions of monastic literature, only to subvert them in the following dialogue, and thus present a new model of spiritual lif

The Sources of the Secret des Secrets of Jofroi de Watreford

A French version of the pseudo-Aristotelian, Secretum Secretorum, made in the second half of the thirteenth century by the Dominican Jofroi de Watreford, assisted in some way by Servale Copale, has attracted more attention than it would have otherwise done owing to a statement of the principal author in the dedicatory introduction. This general statement upon the sources of the work has been misunderstood, and has called forth unnecessary explanations, because more specific statements in other parts of the work have not been noted. The passage cited above was probably the only authority on which the historian of the Dominican order based his assertion that Jofroi knew both Arabic and Greek, and Knust believed it sufficient evidence for the existence of a Greek Secretum Secretorum

"Secretum" de Antonio Prieto. La novela de una canción

Antonio Prieto´s novel Secretum is seen in these lines as a poetic biography where the author rewrites Petrarch´s Canzoniere in a dialogue among many voices and within a science fiction novel pattern. The same way that Petrarch in his Canzoniere talks to Saint Augustine as he himself did with God in his Confessions. It is indeed the same dialogue that every reader holds with the books he reads. This novel is therefore analyzed as the mythical fusion between Antonio Prieto and Petrarch in an attempt to rescue and save the past (as the author himself states through one of his characters) and in so doing Antonio Prieto becomes a modern interlocutor laden with memory.La novela de Antonio Prieto, Secretum, se observa en estas líneas como una biografía poética en la que el autor reescribe el Cancionero de Petrarca en un diálogo cantado a varias voces y en un molde de novela de ciencia ficción. Del mismo modo que Petrarca en su Cancionero dialogó con San Agustín y éste último, en sus Confesiones, lo hizo con Dios. Es el diálogo que, en definitiva, mantiene cada lector con los libros que lee. Se analiza, pues, esta novela como la fusión mítica de Antonio Prieto con Petrarca en un intento de recuperar y salvar el pasado, (así lo dice el propio autor a través de uno de sus personajes), que convierte a Antonio Prieto en un moderno interlocutor cargado de memoria

The Spiritual Nature of the Italian Renaissance

This study seeks to investigate the influence of faith in the emergence and development of the Italian Renaissance, in both the artwork and writing of the major artists and thinkers of the day, and the impact that new expressions of faith had on the viewing public. While the Renaissance is often labeled as a secular movement by modern scholars, this interpretation is largely due to the political motives of the Medici family who dominated Florence as the center of this artistic rebirth, on and off again throughout the period. On close examination, the philosophical and creative undercurrents of the movement were much more complex. The thinkers of the era would often place Greco-Roman philosophers in the context of their Christian era and use their wisdom in addition to, rather than superseding, church and biblical authority, embracing figures like Virgil and Augustine in concert rather than opposition. These Christian humanists saw their work as a way to engage humanity in a quest for knowledge in ever expanding ways, but still with an undercurrent of reflection on the role of the divine. Spiritual inquiries of Dante, Lorenzo Valla, and Petrarch in written works are similarly manifested in the visual arts by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti, and Raphael Sanzio. These ‘big three’ painters of the Renaissance portrayed their individual Christian ideas through their own writings, sketchbooks, and all forms of artistic expressions, many of which are evaluated in this paper. Finally, the transition of art to a scale inviting the viewer to experience it personally marked a vital change. The shift from divine proportions to more naturalistic and relatable art also logically harmonizes with the mindset of the broader Renaissance movement. This paper seeks to examine the depth and complexity of key Renaissance figures and how concepts of Christian faith and spirituality translated into their works

Entre l'autobiografia i la poètica

Ressenya a: Francesco Petrarca, 'Secretum', traducció de Xavier Riu