Abstract
Reviewed by: Julia M Kisacky, Baylor University, USA
This anthology belongs to the Atlante series that, according to the back cover, seeks to provide “[i]ntroduzioni chiare al repertorio della nostra cultura” and “[u]na mappa aggiornata degli studi letterari.” This volume meets those goals regarding Matteo Maria Boiardo, “un poeta completo, piacevole da leggere e fondamentale per comprendere la letteratura italiana del Rinascimento.”
Jo Ann Cavallo’s Introduction focuses, not surprisingly, on the Inamoramento de Orlando (Orlando innamorato), and presents themes she has explored in her previous books. These themes include Boiardo’s innovations with respect to literary traditions, such that the Inamoramento “impose un nuovo modello per il poema cavalleresco … incorporando nella sua struttura una serie di testi chiave di tutte le grandi tradizioni letterarie … arrivando così a comprendere una serie di generi diversi” (p. 7). Cavallo proceeds to discuss the Inamoramento’s different types of love, the major characters, the tensions between public duty and private desires, lessons from history, encomia, and cosmopolitanism. She argues for the poem’s relevance to real life in the Quattrocento: “[s]otto la superficie fantastica del poema, i problemi sono quelli della vita reale, come la frode e la violenza. […] la morte a tradimento […] unisce questi due mali” (p. 22). Boiardo’s own life provides an illustration, as the poet himself was the target of an attempted poisoning. She concludes with the Innamorato’s popular legacy in the Opera dei Pupi. This Introduction provides a concise grounding in the fundamentals of Boiardo’s masterpiece.
Corrado Confalonieri’s introductions in each section of the anthology (a note on the copyright page attributes primary responsibility for the text outside the Introduction to him) provide compact, up-to-the-minute orientations to the work or works in question, including textual sources, literary and historical influences, current criticism, and outlines of the important themes. Boiardo’s enduring interest in politics, government, and courtly society is shown to be present in all of the works anthologized, from the youthful Boiardo’s partisan support for Ercole d’Este in the Pastoralia (pp. 32, 37) to the discussion of the duties of rulers and their subjects in the Timone (p. 246). Confalonieri also takes care to note Boiardo’s innovations in various works, whether in Latin meter (p. 33), the transformations of source material in his translations (pp. 44–45), Galatea’s role as protagonist of an eclogue (235), or his creative adaptation of Lucian in the Timone (p. 244).
The ample selections from the Inamoramento follow the text of the critical edition by Antonia Tissoni Benvenuti and Cristina Montagnani, but adopt Andrea Canova’s more modern and less conservative criteria of transcription (p. 272). The passages demonstrate the variety of the poem’s interests and messages; its goals are not merely entertainment and encomium. Rather, we see numerous passages with moral significance, such as the “fonte di Narciso” episode where, though love is presented as a good thing, the discerning reader should learn to avoid excess (p. 124). Moreover, since Boiardo continued writing the poem through most of his life, his process of composition changed over time: “ha assorbito il riflesso della storia e gli effetti di nuove attese e richieste da parte della corte, lo spazio politico-culturale a cui deve sempre essere ricondotto” (p. 55).
The introduction to the section on the Amorum Libri Tres addresses three fundamental topics: the relation between this work and the Inamoramento, its chronology, and its “calcolatissima architettura interna, l’interpretazione dell’itinerario compiuto dal poeta-amante” (p. 187). Also noted are examples of Boiardo’s idiosyncratic Petrarchism and of the difference between his and Petrarch’s love stories. For instance, Boiardo’s love affair lasted only two years, “con un’intensità passionale (nonché sensoriale) e con una rapidità del tutto ignote al precedente petrarchesco” (pp. 187–188).
To end up with such a slim volume, sacrifices must be made; while the Inamoramento and Amorum Libri make up two-thirds of the volume, the selections from the minor works are decidedly abbreviated. These selections are drawn from: the Pastoralia, the Carmina in Herculem, Boiardo’s translations/adaptations of Xenophon and Herodotus, the Pastorale, the Timone, and Boiardo’s letters. The five letters selected are from late in Boiardo’s life, and aim to provide “un campione di quella ‘funzione di specchio’ della quotidianità,” “del carattere, degli umori, della temperie morale del Boiardo, o della sua psicologia ed etica professionale di funzionario degli Estensi” (pp. 253–254). The Latin poetry section presents both the Latin original and modern Italian translations. While the Epigrammata, the Vita de alcuni electi Capitani, the Historia imperiale, the Asino d’oro, the Orphei tragoedia, and the Carte de Triomphi (Tarocchi) are discussed at varying lengths, they are omitted from the anthology (the last work because of its increasingly dubious attribution to Boiardo). A “Chronology” summarizes Boiardo’s life and achievements, while a brief Bibliography provides ample information useful to start further reading on Boiardo and his various works.
Another factor common to Boiardo’s works is his non-standard language, which explains centuries of relative obscurity for his works. Readers will see for themselves examples of the Quattrocento koinè which makes Boiardo’s letters, even more than his other works, especially valuable to linguists (p. 253). The footnotes to the selections, while plentiful, cannot point out every variation from standard modern Italian, but instead “serviranno principalmente a favorire la comprensibilità” (p. 58). Boiardo’s linguistic peculiarities will prove both challenging and illuminating to advanced undergraduate students, who, I believe, would be the principal market in the English-speaking world. This economical, lightweight volume would be convenient for students to carry around. Though slim, it is both packed with text and readable. It would make a fine textbook in a literature or civilization course, perhaps in conjunction with other anthologies from the series if they are of similar quality.