Shadows over Shulamith: Giordano Bruno's De umbris idearum and the Song of Songs

This article focuses on the use of one verse from the Biblical Songs of Songs in central passages of Giordano Bruno's first published book on the art of memory. De umbris idearum [On the Shadows of Ideas] not solely aims at improving mnemonic capacities, it also envisages the preconditions and limits of cognition in Bruno's new inifitist cosmology. Taking relevant scholarly literature on the topic as a point of departure, this contribution presents De umbris in the context of Bruno's philosophy in general; it focuses on Bruno's evocation of Origen's commentary on that passage in the Song of Songs. The article analyzes in detail the reasons for Bruno's subversion of the traditional exegetic tradition that was massively influenced by Origen's spiritualized reading of the Song of Songs. Bruno's misappropriation of the Origen's commentary turns out to be a mise en abyme, a mannerist strategy of representation. It not only reflects the very method that underlies Bruno's art of memory, but is also to be understood as a conscious subversion of exegetic traditions in general

Conceptualizing Early Modern Metropolitan Space in Giovan Battista della Porta’s Comedy "Tabernaria" (1616). The Osteria del Cerriglio in Naples

This contribution examines a particular instance in which two different ways of perceiving metropolitan space in 17th century Naples (espace véçu and espace conçu) become imbricated in the mode of comedy. Tabernaria stages not merely the place of the Osteria del Cerriglio, a historic urban site; through a characteristic mise en abîme, this scenic re-creation is doubled or mirrored in a theatrical place which only pretends to be the Cerriglio. Likewise, and again typical for this narrative strategy, the staged play itself is doubled by the ruse enacted by some of the personae for (or rather: against) other personae onstage. The audiences may then enjoy this oblique representation of a very real metropolitan space and its labyrinthine pitfalls, from a safe distance.  Keywords: Naples, theater and space, espace véçu, espace conçu, Baratta map&nbsp

Sesso nel Rinascimento

Questo volume propone un discorso critico sulla sessualità e sulla cultura visiva dell’Italia rinascimentale. I saggi raccolti tentano di fare luce su una serie di zone d’ombra, dando spazio a tutte quelle pratiche o preferenze considerate in genere come alternative o anomalie, e a un’ampia varietà di scenari “scandalosi”. Particolare attenzione è stata riservata all’aspetto materiale della cultura sessuale, dalle modalità di rappresentazione erotica del corpo agli oggetti e agli strumenti associati all’attività sessuale. Ne emerge un quadro completamente nuovo della sessualità rinascimentale, che spazza via secoli di manipolazioni ed equivoci socio-culturali, svelando scenari finora trascurati o volutamente nascosti. Diciassette saggi provocatori, con incursioni nel campo dell’arte, della letteratura, della storia, e persino della filosofia, organizzati intorno a quattro assi fondamentali: la pratica, la performance, la perversione e la punizione. Questo volume rivela un panorama molto più complesso e una visione del sesso e della sessualità rinascimentali carica di nuove sfumature

Playthings in Early Modernity: Party Games, Word Games, Mind Games

Why do we play games—with and upon each other as well as ourselves? When are winners also losers, and vice-versa? How and to what end do we stretch the spaces of play? What happens when players go ‘out of bounds,’ or when games go ‘too far’? Moreover, what happens when we push the parameters of inquiry: when we play with traditional narratives of ludic culture, when we re-write the rules? An innovative volume of fifteen interdisciplinary essays at the nexus of material culture, performance studies, and game theory, Playthings in Early Modernity emphasizes the rules of the game(s) as well as the breaking of those rules. Thus, the titular ‘plaything’ is understood as both an object and a person, and play, in the early modern world, is treated not merely as a pastime, a leisurely pursuit, but as a pivotal part of daily life, a strategic psychosocial endeavor

Bestiality and Gluttony in Theory and Practice in the Comedies of Giovan Battista Della Porta

Giovan Battista Della Porta (1535–1615), Neapolitan nobleman, scholar/scientist, and writer famed for books on natural magic and physiognomy, expressed quite explicit views on bestiality—that is, on human beings having sex with animals. Della Porta populated his plays with characters who allude to their desire both to have sex with animals and to assume animal shapes in order to satisfy their yearnings; the gulone (the glutton), an archetypal character that was a cultural relic from Roman comedy, is a case in point. According to Della Porta, eating habits are indicative of other habits that can be expressed in a person’s physical appearance; his fascination with monstrous bodies and their concomitant bizarre sexual desires betrays a tendency to understand human beings as akin to animals, and indicates the porosity, as he saw it, of boundaries between these two worlds.Le noble napolitain Giovan Battista Della Porta (1535–1615), chercheur, scientifique et écrivain, connu pour ses ouvrages sur la magie naturelle et la physiognomonie, s’est exprimé de façon explicite au sujet de la bestialité, c’est-à-dire au sujet d’humains ayant des rapports sexuels avec des animaux. Les pièces de théâtre de Della Porta sont habitées par de nombreux personnages qui font allusion à la fois à leur désir d’avoir des contacts sexuels avec des animaux, et de prendre une forme animale pour assouvir ces désirs. Le gulone (le glouton) en est un cas, tout en étant un personnage archétypal issu de la comédie romaine. D’après Della Porta, le comportement à table pouvait indiquer la présence d’autres habitudes, parfois visibles dans l’aspect physique d’une personne. Sa fascination pour les corps monstrueux et leurs désirs sexuels étranges trahit sa tendance à considérer les humains comme apparentés aux animaux, et met en lumière la perméabilité telle qu’il la concevait de la limite entre ces deux règnes