Gur Zak | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (original) (raw)
Books by Gur Zak
The reader of Boccaccio's voluminous writings - from the early Filocolo through the Decameron and... more The reader of Boccaccio's voluminous writings - from the early Filocolo through the Decameron and to the later Epistles - cannot help but marvel at the pervasive engagement with the power and reach of consolation. Time and again, his protagonists suffer heartache and tribulation and seek comfort in the words of others or, significantly, in the reading of literature. These scenes are accompanied, tellingly, by the author's own declarations for the care and solace of his readers.
Although scholars have long recognized its importance, this wide-ranging
and multifaceted exploration of the consolatory value of
literature has not received the attention it deserves. Boccaccio and
the Consolation of Literature is the first sustained study of Boccaccio’s
consoling fictions as well as his reflections on the way literature can,
and should, offer solace.
Across five interlocking chapters, the book analyzes the affective,
exemplary, and cognitive modes of consolation that mark the poet’s
works; but it also underlines the critical dialogue with the ancient and
medieval traditions Boccaccio inherits. While his narratives introduce
figures that expound Stoic, Boethian, and Dantesque views of
consolation – calling to overcome sorrow through curbing the passions
that lead to grief – Boccaccio repeatedly dramatizes the limits of these
traditions. In laying bare these limits and inviting readers instead to
find comfort in shared sorrow or in the active pursuit of worldly desires
Boccaccio fashions a new vision of consolatio for the later Middle Ages.
ספר זה הוא מבחר מקיף ומייצג, בתרגום ראשון לעברית, של כתבי פרנצ'סקו פטררקה (1374-1304), "אבי ההומנ... more ספר זה הוא מבחר מקיף ומייצג, בתרגום ראשון לעברית, של כתבי פרנצ'סקו פטררקה (1374-1304), "אבי ההומניזם" האירופי ומהמבשרים החשובים של הרנסנס האיטלקי. בכתבים אלו ניסה פטררקה להחיות את סגנונות הכתיבה שהיו מקובלים בעולם העתיק ובכך לכונן מחדש את האידיאלים האסתטיים, האתיים, החינוכיים והפוליטיים של אותו עולם אבוד בעיניו. בין היתר החיה בכתביו את תחומי הידע העתיקים הידועים כ"מדעי האדם" – הספרות, ההיסטוריה, הרטוריקה והפילוסופיה של המוסר – שבהם ראה את הבסיס לאנושיות ולתרבות האנושית. כך קרא תיגר על הדגש הנוצרי על ביטול העולם הארצי, וקידם אידיאלים קלאסיים של שליטה עצמית ויציבות רגשית.
המבחר כולל כמה ממכתביו האישיים הידועים של פטררקה, ובהם צמד האיגרות לנואם והפילוסוף הרומי קיקרו; דיאלוג תרפויטי-אוטוביוגרפי שניהל עם אביו הרוחני אוגוסטינוס הקדוש, ובו אִתגר את תמונת העולם הדתית הנוקשה של בן-שיחו; כְּתב תוכחה שבו יצא נגד הפילוסופיה האריסטוטלית הדומיננטית בזמנו וטען לעליונות הרטוריקה הקלאסית על הפילוסופיה; נובלה שבה הציג את גרסתו לסיפור החותם של דקאמרון מאת ידידו ג'ובאני בוקאצ'ו; ומבחר מן השירה הלטינית שלו, שבאמצעותה ניסה לשחזר את שירתו של המשורר הרומי הגדול ורגיליוס. באמצעות היצירות הללו אִפשר פטררקה את צמיחתה של תרבות חילונית חדשה על סף העת המודרנית, תרבות המציבה במוקד את האדם והעולם הזה, והניח את היסודות להתפרצות היצירתית הגדולה של הרנסנס האיטלקי.
This book presents a comprehensive selection, translated for the first time into Hebrew, of the Latin works of Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the "father of humanism" and a pivotal precursor to the Italian Renaissance. The compilation includes some of Petrarch's renowned personal letters, such as the pair he addressed to the Roman orator and philosopher Cicero. It features a therapeutic-autobiographical dialogue in which he engages with his spiritual father, Saint Augustine, challenging the latter's strict worldviews. The selection also encompasses an Invective against the dominant Aristotelian philosophy of his era, asserting the preeminence of classical rhetoric over philosophy; a novella presenting his interpretation of the closing story of the Decameron; and a portion of his Latin poetry, through which he sought to revive the works of the great Roman poet Virgil. Through these writings, Petrarch fostered the emergence of a new secular culture on the cusp of the modern era—one that emphasizes humanity and life in this world—and set the stage for the remarkable creative surge of the Italian Renaissance.
This volume assembles a collection of studies investigating ways that textual practices in the cl... more This volume assembles a collection of studies investigating ways that textual practices in the classical and medieval periods generated collective and individual expressions of identity. Engaging in dialogue with Brian Stock’s contributions to the history of literacy, the essays initiate new conversations about models of interpretation, habits of reading, textual communities, and forms of self-writing.
The first group of essays, featuring Seth Lerer, Paul Saenger, and Sarah Spence, not only reflects upon the influence of Stock’s Augustine the Reader, but also examines Augustine’s innovative handling of texts within the literary culture of Late Antiquity. The following group, authored by John Magee, Constant J. Mews, and Marcia L. Colish, responds to The Implications of Literacy by examining ways that the reinterpretation of inherited texts can generate philosophical schools, social reformists, and textual communities. Subsequent contributions by Willemien Otten and Sarah Powrie investigate textual expressions of created nature and thereby build upon the work of Myth and Science in the Twelfth Century.
The last three essays by Gur Zak, Jane Tylus, and Catherine Conybeare explore Augustine’s enduring influence beyond the medieval period, as evidenced in the writings of Giovanni Conversini, Catherine of Sienna, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. In so doing, these authors advance the frameworks of After Augustine and Listening for the Text. Personal tributes by Aviad Kleinberg and Natalie Zemon Davis bookend the volume, with each author recollecting fragments of conversations that have shaped a decades-long friendship with the honoree.
![Research paper thumbnail of Bernhard Huss / Timothy Kircher / Gur Zak (eds.): Petrarchan Passions: Affects and Community-Formation in the Renaissance World (Berlin 2022) [Schriften des Italienzentrums der Freien Universität Berlin 8]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/99320875/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](This volume is the result of the international workshop “Affects and Community-Formation in the P... more This volume is the result of the international workshop “Affects and Community-Formation in the Petrarchan World”, which was hosted online by the Italienzentrum della Freie Universität Berlin on March 11-12, 2021. The workshop was held by the generous support of the Cluster of Excellence Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, EXC 2020 – Project ID 3900608380) as well as that of the Italienzentrum of Freie Universität Berlin. The workshop and the articles presented here all form part of the project “Petrarchan Worlds”, directed by Bernhard Huss in Research Area 1, “Competing Communities”, of the above-mentioned Cluster of Excellence. The workshop focused on the study of Petrarchan “affects”. These “affects”, passions”, or “emotions” are omnipresent in Petrarch’s writings. In addition to feelings of love so frequently expressed in his work, other emotions – sorrow, compassion, anger, envy, for example – are also represented and these too play a crucial role in his interactions with friends, patrons, favorite authors, and readers. Analyzing Petrarch's complex engagements with those "affects" in both his Latin and vernacular works, the essays in this volume explore the different types of emotional, intellectual, and political communities that his writings helped forge.
Papers by Gur Zak
![Research paper thumbnail of "Dante's Political Emotion: Compassion and Community in Purgatorio 13 and Beyond," in Make It New: The Many Dantes of the Twenty-First Century, ed. Maria Luisa Ardizzone, Studj romanzi 19 (2023): 295-330 [pre-edited version]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/118636840/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Studj romazni, 2023
The emotion of compassion has garnered significant scholarly attention in recent years, yet schol... more The emotion of compassion has garnered significant scholarly attention in recent years, yet scholars are divided over its nature and political significance. This article turns to Dante’s Commedia to explore its perspective on the nature and value of compassion. Focusing particularly on canto 13 of the Purgatorio, the article demonstrates how Dante portrays compassion as a crucial civic emotion and a foundation of the political community. In doing so, Dante highlights the somatic and pre-reflective nature of compassion, a perspective closely aligned with the devotional communities predominant in his day. At the same time, in alignment with scholastic philosophers like Remigio dei Girolami, the Commedia also acknowledges the inherent partiality of compassion within the earthly realm.
Italian Studies, 2024
The study of emotions has been prominent within medieval and early modern studies. However, much ... more The study of emotions has been prominent within medieval and early modern studies. However, much remains to be explored, particularly regarding how literature might shed light on broader cultural outlooks and the construction and application of specific emotions in past societies. This article delves into Italian humanist culture's comprehension and utilisation of a particular emotion: compassion. By closely examining the literary reception of an ancient story-Valerius Maximus' exemplum of Seleucus, Antiochus, and Stratonica-in the writings of four humanists: Boccaccio, Petrarch, Bruni, and Manetti, the article proposes what might be described as a 'philology of compassion'. It demonstrates how the various renditions of the tale predominantly revolve around compassion, revealing the debates within the humanist community concerning the nature of this emotion, its ethical and political significance, and those to whom it should be most directed.
Schriften des Italienzentrums der Freien Universität Berlin 8, 2022
Antike und Abendland, 2021
Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna’s Rationarium vite (completed ca. 1400) is the first full-length a... more Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna’s Rationarium vite (completed ca. 1400) is the first full-length autobiography written in the Latin west after Augustine’s Confessions. Despite this important fact, Conversini’s work – and his humanism in general – have received only sporadic attention from scholars. This article seeks to underscore Conversini’s importance to early humanism by situating his Rationarium within the context of the Petrarchan revival of the ancient notion of “care of the self.” Highlighting Conversini’s adherence to the Petrarchan classicized notion of care, the article analyzes the ways Conversini used autobiographical writing as an exercise of care and followed Petrarch in establishing a new ethical model of the secular man of letters. At the same time, the article shows how Conversini’s adherence to the Stoic-Petrarchan notion of care is in constant tension with his idealization of Franciscan-like compassion – a tension that has strong gendered undertones in the work.
Mediaevalia , 2021
One of the striking features of Giovanni Boccaccio’s early vernacular prose epic, Il Filocolo, is... more One of the striking features of Giovanni Boccaccio’s early vernacular prose epic, Il Filocolo, is the prevalence of scenes of lament and consolation throughout the narrative. Despite the evident centrality of consolation to the Filocolo, scholars have by and large ignored this aspect of the work. The aim of this article is to elucidate the centrality of consolation to the Filocolo’s overall meaning and to highlight the novelty of Boccaccio’s approach to consolation in it, arguing that the work establishes a significant literary alternative to the Boethian consolation of philosophy. Deeply influenced by Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Boccaccio’s Filocolo subverts the judgmental, universalist, and otherworldly approach of Boethius’s Lady Philosophy and offers instead a vision of consolation that is empathetic, this-worldly, and strongly attuned to the sufferer’s particular needs and abilities.
Petrarchesca: Rivista internazionale, 2021
Petrarch’s work to fashion a devout community of friends by means of letter-writing was often see... more Petrarch’s work to fashion a devout community of friends by means of letter-writing was often seen as a central feature of his life and writings. Yet while scholarly assessments of Petrarch’s epistolary community have traditionally celebrated it as a precursor to the global «republic of letters», more recent accounts have critiqued what they see as the exclusive, authoritarian, and masculinist aspects of his humanist community. Looking at several key letters from his two major letter-collections, the Familiares and the Seniles, the article shows how Petrarch’s community-building is continually divided between two distinct visions of community. While Petrarch certainly aims to fashion in his letters a community of virtuous, self-sufficient, and like-minded individuals, who come together through shared Stoic ideals of reason and virtue, the letters also repeatedly – perhaps at times unwittingly – acknowledge their protagonists’ inescapable vulnerability and suggest that what brings them together is, in effect, the affective bond of compassion.
Decameron Fourth Day in Perspective, 2020
The emotion of compassion has been at the center of scholarly attention of several disciplines in... more The emotion of compassion has been at the center of scholarly attention of several disciplines in recent years. Within literary studies, there emerged a debate between the view that considers compassion as “the basic social emotion” and exalts literature’s ability to cultivate it (Nussbaum), and the one which stresses the moral and political limitations of compassion (Berlant). This article seeks to examine Boccaccio’s role in the development of pre-modern attitudes to compassion and to probe the possible merits of his literary practice to contemporary debates over literary compassion. The article first highlights Boccaccio’s staunch defense of compassion as an essential human trait. It argues that Boccaccio often developed his view in direct opposition to nascent humanist-Stoic positions such as Petrarch’s, which idealized self-control and regarded compassion with unease. The second part of the article then seeks to problematize to a degree current views that consider Boccaccio as a proto-sentimentalist author who solely sought to generate his readers’ compassion and tears. By looking at the tragic Day 4 of the Decameron, the latter part of the article shows how even while appealing to his readers’ compassion, Boccaccio also urged them to withhold automatic identification with his protagonists’ suffering and to reflect critically on its causes, seeking thereby to balance compassion with reason.
The article examines Boccaccio’s and Petrarch’s respective views of the nature and role of traged... more The article examines Boccaccio’s and Petrarch’s respective views of the nature and role of tragedy through a comparative analysis of Boccaccio’s tragedy of Ghismonda (Decameron 4.1) and Petrarch’s accounts of the tragedy of Massinissa and Sophonisba in the Triumphs and the Africa. The article shows how whereas Petrarch locates the source of tragedy within the individual self and employs his tragic narratives primarily as a means of shaping the reader’s relationship to the self, Boccaccio considers tragedy as an outcome of flawed social interactions and accordingly strives to affect the reader’s relationship to others.
![Research paper thumbnail of Boccaccio and His World: Proceedings of the Third Triennial Meeting of the American Boccaccio Association, Duke University, September-October 2016, edited by Valerio Cappozzo, Martin Eisner, Timothy Kircher, «Heliotropia.A forum for Boccaccio research and interpretation» vol.15, 2018 [ISSN 15423352]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/58560759/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](The essays in this volume offer a wide range of new perspectives on Boccaccio’s work, its histori... more The essays in this volume offer a wide range of new perspectives on Boccaccio’s work, its historical time and place, and its legacy. These thirteen contributions, presented by scholars at different stages of their careers, provide insights into his vernacular and Latin writings. While the Decameron is highlighted, readers will find commentary also on the Fiammetta, Filostrato, Corbaccio, De casibus, and other works, including his efforts as a copyist and creator of literary canons. In addition, scholars review carefully the events of his day and his contemporaries, and trace out the ways that his influence has touched writers of our time. The authors presented their initial ideas, as the sub-title notes, at the ABA triennial meeting in the fall of 2016 and then revised their papers for this volume. We have divided the volume into three sections: Literary Contexts; Historical Contexts; and Boccaccio and the Roles of Women and conclude the volume with an epilogue on paleopathology applied to Boccaccio’s novelle and his own death.
The reader of Boccaccio's voluminous writings - from the early Filocolo through the Decameron and... more The reader of Boccaccio's voluminous writings - from the early Filocolo through the Decameron and to the later Epistles - cannot help but marvel at the pervasive engagement with the power and reach of consolation. Time and again, his protagonists suffer heartache and tribulation and seek comfort in the words of others or, significantly, in the reading of literature. These scenes are accompanied, tellingly, by the author's own declarations for the care and solace of his readers.
Although scholars have long recognized its importance, this wide-ranging
and multifaceted exploration of the consolatory value of
literature has not received the attention it deserves. Boccaccio and
the Consolation of Literature is the first sustained study of Boccaccio’s
consoling fictions as well as his reflections on the way literature can,
and should, offer solace.
Across five interlocking chapters, the book analyzes the affective,
exemplary, and cognitive modes of consolation that mark the poet’s
works; but it also underlines the critical dialogue with the ancient and
medieval traditions Boccaccio inherits. While his narratives introduce
figures that expound Stoic, Boethian, and Dantesque views of
consolation – calling to overcome sorrow through curbing the passions
that lead to grief – Boccaccio repeatedly dramatizes the limits of these
traditions. In laying bare these limits and inviting readers instead to
find comfort in shared sorrow or in the active pursuit of worldly desires
Boccaccio fashions a new vision of consolatio for the later Middle Ages.
ספר זה הוא מבחר מקיף ומייצג, בתרגום ראשון לעברית, של כתבי פרנצ'סקו פטררקה (1374-1304), "אבי ההומנ... more ספר זה הוא מבחר מקיף ומייצג, בתרגום ראשון לעברית, של כתבי פרנצ'סקו פטררקה (1374-1304), "אבי ההומניזם" האירופי ומהמבשרים החשובים של הרנסנס האיטלקי. בכתבים אלו ניסה פטררקה להחיות את סגנונות הכתיבה שהיו מקובלים בעולם העתיק ובכך לכונן מחדש את האידיאלים האסתטיים, האתיים, החינוכיים והפוליטיים של אותו עולם אבוד בעיניו. בין היתר החיה בכתביו את תחומי הידע העתיקים הידועים כ"מדעי האדם" – הספרות, ההיסטוריה, הרטוריקה והפילוסופיה של המוסר – שבהם ראה את הבסיס לאנושיות ולתרבות האנושית. כך קרא תיגר על הדגש הנוצרי על ביטול העולם הארצי, וקידם אידיאלים קלאסיים של שליטה עצמית ויציבות רגשית.
המבחר כולל כמה ממכתביו האישיים הידועים של פטררקה, ובהם צמד האיגרות לנואם והפילוסוף הרומי קיקרו; דיאלוג תרפויטי-אוטוביוגרפי שניהל עם אביו הרוחני אוגוסטינוס הקדוש, ובו אִתגר את תמונת העולם הדתית הנוקשה של בן-שיחו; כְּתב תוכחה שבו יצא נגד הפילוסופיה האריסטוטלית הדומיננטית בזמנו וטען לעליונות הרטוריקה הקלאסית על הפילוסופיה; נובלה שבה הציג את גרסתו לסיפור החותם של דקאמרון מאת ידידו ג'ובאני בוקאצ'ו; ומבחר מן השירה הלטינית שלו, שבאמצעותה ניסה לשחזר את שירתו של המשורר הרומי הגדול ורגיליוס. באמצעות היצירות הללו אִפשר פטררקה את צמיחתה של תרבות חילונית חדשה על סף העת המודרנית, תרבות המציבה במוקד את האדם והעולם הזה, והניח את היסודות להתפרצות היצירתית הגדולה של הרנסנס האיטלקי.
This book presents a comprehensive selection, translated for the first time into Hebrew, of the Latin works of Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the "father of humanism" and a pivotal precursor to the Italian Renaissance. The compilation includes some of Petrarch's renowned personal letters, such as the pair he addressed to the Roman orator and philosopher Cicero. It features a therapeutic-autobiographical dialogue in which he engages with his spiritual father, Saint Augustine, challenging the latter's strict worldviews. The selection also encompasses an Invective against the dominant Aristotelian philosophy of his era, asserting the preeminence of classical rhetoric over philosophy; a novella presenting his interpretation of the closing story of the Decameron; and a portion of his Latin poetry, through which he sought to revive the works of the great Roman poet Virgil. Through these writings, Petrarch fostered the emergence of a new secular culture on the cusp of the modern era—one that emphasizes humanity and life in this world—and set the stage for the remarkable creative surge of the Italian Renaissance.
This volume assembles a collection of studies investigating ways that textual practices in the cl... more This volume assembles a collection of studies investigating ways that textual practices in the classical and medieval periods generated collective and individual expressions of identity. Engaging in dialogue with Brian Stock’s contributions to the history of literacy, the essays initiate new conversations about models of interpretation, habits of reading, textual communities, and forms of self-writing.
The first group of essays, featuring Seth Lerer, Paul Saenger, and Sarah Spence, not only reflects upon the influence of Stock’s Augustine the Reader, but also examines Augustine’s innovative handling of texts within the literary culture of Late Antiquity. The following group, authored by John Magee, Constant J. Mews, and Marcia L. Colish, responds to The Implications of Literacy by examining ways that the reinterpretation of inherited texts can generate philosophical schools, social reformists, and textual communities. Subsequent contributions by Willemien Otten and Sarah Powrie investigate textual expressions of created nature and thereby build upon the work of Myth and Science in the Twelfth Century.
The last three essays by Gur Zak, Jane Tylus, and Catherine Conybeare explore Augustine’s enduring influence beyond the medieval period, as evidenced in the writings of Giovanni Conversini, Catherine of Sienna, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. In so doing, these authors advance the frameworks of After Augustine and Listening for the Text. Personal tributes by Aviad Kleinberg and Natalie Zemon Davis bookend the volume, with each author recollecting fragments of conversations that have shaped a decades-long friendship with the honoree.
This volume is the result of the international workshop “Affects and Community-Formation in the P... more This volume is the result of the international workshop “Affects and Community-Formation in the Petrarchan World”, which was hosted online by the Italienzentrum della Freie Universität Berlin on March 11-12, 2021. The workshop was held by the generous support of the Cluster of Excellence Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, EXC 2020 – Project ID 3900608380) as well as that of the Italienzentrum of Freie Universität Berlin. The workshop and the articles presented here all form part of the project “Petrarchan Worlds”, directed by Bernhard Huss in Research Area 1, “Competing Communities”, of the above-mentioned Cluster of Excellence. The workshop focused on the study of Petrarchan “affects”. These “affects”, passions”, or “emotions” are omnipresent in Petrarch’s writings. In addition to feelings of love so frequently expressed in his work, other emotions – sorrow, compassion, anger, envy, for example – are also represented and these too play a crucial role in his interactions with friends, patrons, favorite authors, and readers. Analyzing Petrarch's complex engagements with those "affects" in both his Latin and vernacular works, the essays in this volume explore the different types of emotional, intellectual, and political communities that his writings helped forge.
Studj romazni, 2023
The emotion of compassion has garnered significant scholarly attention in recent years, yet schol... more The emotion of compassion has garnered significant scholarly attention in recent years, yet scholars are divided over its nature and political significance. This article turns to Dante’s Commedia to explore its perspective on the nature and value of compassion. Focusing particularly on canto 13 of the Purgatorio, the article demonstrates how Dante portrays compassion as a crucial civic emotion and a foundation of the political community. In doing so, Dante highlights the somatic and pre-reflective nature of compassion, a perspective closely aligned with the devotional communities predominant in his day. At the same time, in alignment with scholastic philosophers like Remigio dei Girolami, the Commedia also acknowledges the inherent partiality of compassion within the earthly realm.
Italian Studies, 2024
The study of emotions has been prominent within medieval and early modern studies. However, much ... more The study of emotions has been prominent within medieval and early modern studies. However, much remains to be explored, particularly regarding how literature might shed light on broader cultural outlooks and the construction and application of specific emotions in past societies. This article delves into Italian humanist culture's comprehension and utilisation of a particular emotion: compassion. By closely examining the literary reception of an ancient story-Valerius Maximus' exemplum of Seleucus, Antiochus, and Stratonica-in the writings of four humanists: Boccaccio, Petrarch, Bruni, and Manetti, the article proposes what might be described as a 'philology of compassion'. It demonstrates how the various renditions of the tale predominantly revolve around compassion, revealing the debates within the humanist community concerning the nature of this emotion, its ethical and political significance, and those to whom it should be most directed.
Schriften des Italienzentrums der Freien Universität Berlin 8, 2022
Antike und Abendland, 2021
Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna’s Rationarium vite (completed ca. 1400) is the first full-length a... more Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna’s Rationarium vite (completed ca. 1400) is the first full-length autobiography written in the Latin west after Augustine’s Confessions. Despite this important fact, Conversini’s work – and his humanism in general – have received only sporadic attention from scholars. This article seeks to underscore Conversini’s importance to early humanism by situating his Rationarium within the context of the Petrarchan revival of the ancient notion of “care of the self.” Highlighting Conversini’s adherence to the Petrarchan classicized notion of care, the article analyzes the ways Conversini used autobiographical writing as an exercise of care and followed Petrarch in establishing a new ethical model of the secular man of letters. At the same time, the article shows how Conversini’s adherence to the Stoic-Petrarchan notion of care is in constant tension with his idealization of Franciscan-like compassion – a tension that has strong gendered undertones in the work.
Mediaevalia , 2021
One of the striking features of Giovanni Boccaccio’s early vernacular prose epic, Il Filocolo, is... more One of the striking features of Giovanni Boccaccio’s early vernacular prose epic, Il Filocolo, is the prevalence of scenes of lament and consolation throughout the narrative. Despite the evident centrality of consolation to the Filocolo, scholars have by and large ignored this aspect of the work. The aim of this article is to elucidate the centrality of consolation to the Filocolo’s overall meaning and to highlight the novelty of Boccaccio’s approach to consolation in it, arguing that the work establishes a significant literary alternative to the Boethian consolation of philosophy. Deeply influenced by Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Boccaccio’s Filocolo subverts the judgmental, universalist, and otherworldly approach of Boethius’s Lady Philosophy and offers instead a vision of consolation that is empathetic, this-worldly, and strongly attuned to the sufferer’s particular needs and abilities.
Petrarchesca: Rivista internazionale, 2021
Petrarch’s work to fashion a devout community of friends by means of letter-writing was often see... more Petrarch’s work to fashion a devout community of friends by means of letter-writing was often seen as a central feature of his life and writings. Yet while scholarly assessments of Petrarch’s epistolary community have traditionally celebrated it as a precursor to the global «republic of letters», more recent accounts have critiqued what they see as the exclusive, authoritarian, and masculinist aspects of his humanist community. Looking at several key letters from his two major letter-collections, the Familiares and the Seniles, the article shows how Petrarch’s community-building is continually divided between two distinct visions of community. While Petrarch certainly aims to fashion in his letters a community of virtuous, self-sufficient, and like-minded individuals, who come together through shared Stoic ideals of reason and virtue, the letters also repeatedly – perhaps at times unwittingly – acknowledge their protagonists’ inescapable vulnerability and suggest that what brings them together is, in effect, the affective bond of compassion.
Decameron Fourth Day in Perspective, 2020
The emotion of compassion has been at the center of scholarly attention of several disciplines in... more The emotion of compassion has been at the center of scholarly attention of several disciplines in recent years. Within literary studies, there emerged a debate between the view that considers compassion as “the basic social emotion” and exalts literature’s ability to cultivate it (Nussbaum), and the one which stresses the moral and political limitations of compassion (Berlant). This article seeks to examine Boccaccio’s role in the development of pre-modern attitudes to compassion and to probe the possible merits of his literary practice to contemporary debates over literary compassion. The article first highlights Boccaccio’s staunch defense of compassion as an essential human trait. It argues that Boccaccio often developed his view in direct opposition to nascent humanist-Stoic positions such as Petrarch’s, which idealized self-control and regarded compassion with unease. The second part of the article then seeks to problematize to a degree current views that consider Boccaccio as a proto-sentimentalist author who solely sought to generate his readers’ compassion and tears. By looking at the tragic Day 4 of the Decameron, the latter part of the article shows how even while appealing to his readers’ compassion, Boccaccio also urged them to withhold automatic identification with his protagonists’ suffering and to reflect critically on its causes, seeking thereby to balance compassion with reason.
The article examines Boccaccio’s and Petrarch’s respective views of the nature and role of traged... more The article examines Boccaccio’s and Petrarch’s respective views of the nature and role of tragedy through a comparative analysis of Boccaccio’s tragedy of Ghismonda (Decameron 4.1) and Petrarch’s accounts of the tragedy of Massinissa and Sophonisba in the Triumphs and the Africa. The article shows how whereas Petrarch locates the source of tragedy within the individual self and employs his tragic narratives primarily as a means of shaping the reader’s relationship to the self, Boccaccio considers tragedy as an outcome of flawed social interactions and accordingly strives to affect the reader’s relationship to others.
The essays in this volume offer a wide range of new perspectives on Boccaccio’s work, its histori... more The essays in this volume offer a wide range of new perspectives on Boccaccio’s work, its historical time and place, and its legacy. These thirteen contributions, presented by scholars at different stages of their careers, provide insights into his vernacular and Latin writings. While the Decameron is highlighted, readers will find commentary also on the Fiammetta, Filostrato, Corbaccio, De casibus, and other works, including his efforts as a copyist and creator of literary canons. In addition, scholars review carefully the events of his day and his contemporaries, and trace out the ways that his influence has touched writers of our time. The authors presented their initial ideas, as the sub-title notes, at the ABA triennial meeting in the fall of 2016 and then revised their papers for this volume. We have divided the volume into three sections: Literary Contexts; Historical Contexts; and Boccaccio and the Roles of Women and conclude the volume with an epilogue on paleopathology applied to Boccaccio’s novelle and his own death.
The European Legacy 20.5 (2015)
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Of the many myths assembled by Ovid in his poem of transformation, that of Narcissus has no doubt... more Of the many myths assembled by Ovid in his poem of transformation, that of Narcissus has no doubt been one of the most influential and commented upon. 1 The link that Ovid created in his retelling of the story of the beautiful arrogant youth between mirroring, desire, self-awareness, and death would strongly resonate in works of writers and artists of subsequent generations, troubled by their own problematic relationship with their reflection -whether the physical one in mirrors and fountains or the textual one in language. The popularity of the myth reached a peak in the later Middle Ages, occupying a central role in works such as the Roman de la rose and Dante's Commedia. As several critics observed, it was also a clear presence in Petrarch's autobiographical corpus of writings, often blamed for a type of "narcissistic" self-idolatry. 2
The study of the emotions has been at the center of various disciplines in recent years. Politica... more The study of the emotions has been at the center of various disciplines in recent years. Political philosophers, historians of emotions, cognitive psychologists, and literary critics have all examined the nature of the emotions and their ethical, political, and aesthetic implications. Although the study of the emotions has been particularly strong within medieval and early modern studies, much remains to be discovered, especially with respect to the way literary modes of analysis may contribute to the study of past emotionalities. This lecture will examine the way in which a particular emotion –compassion – was understood and applied in the culture of early Italian humanism. It will do so through an analysis of the reception of a single ancient story – Valerius Maximus’s tale of Seleuco, Antioco, and Stratonice – in the writings of four humanists: Boccaccio, Petrarch, Bruni, and Manetti. The various versions of the tale, this lecture will show, revolve largely around compassion and bring to light the debates that dominated the humanist community regarding the nature of compassion, its ethical value, and those who should receive it most.
Here's the complete programme of the Cluster's Grand Opening (24-26 oct 2019) with Gur Zak as gue... more Here's the complete programme of the Cluster's Grand Opening (24-26 oct 2019) with Gur Zak as guest speaker of the research project "Petrarchan Worlds" in the Cluster's Research Area 1 "Competing Communities"
The event will be transmitted via WebEx. Please register by email (bernhard.huss@fu-berlin.de) un... more The event will be transmitted via WebEx. Please register by email (bernhard.huss@fu-berlin.de) until Monday, oct. 26. You will receive information concerning your access to the event on Tuesday, oct. 27.
***
Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna’s Rationarium vite, completed in 1400, is the first full-length autobiography written in the Latin west after Augustine’s Confessions. Despite this remarkable fact, Conversini’s work received only sporadic attention in accounts of early humanism or the history of autobiography. This presentation will seek to elucidate the Rationarium’s significance to the culture of early Italian humanism by examining it in light of Petrarch’s elaborate – yet fragmentary – autobiographical corpus. The presentation will concentrate on three interrelated issues: 1. Conversini’s use of self-writing as an ethical practice aimed at fashioning himself as a free and autonomous subject. 2. His adherence to the Petrarchan project of establishing humanism as a textual community bent on critiquing contemporary society and its corrupt institutions. 3. Conversini’s ongoing oscillation between two different ideals of selfhood in his self-representation: while he often lauds his Franciscan-like compassionate and soft nature, Conversini at the same time repeatedly exalts Stoic virility and self-control as the true essence of humanity.
For registration, please write to bernhard.huss@fu-berlin.de
Program of the colloquium dedicated to the examination of the impact of Brian Stock's scholarship... more Program of the colloquium dedicated to the examination of the impact of Brian Stock's scholarship on various fields of knowledge: the history of reading, medieval textual communities, Augustine and the Augustinian tradition, and the history of concepts of selfhood
Program of the conference "Compassion in Dante's Inferno: Literary and Philosophical Encounters",... more Program of the conference "Compassion in Dante's Inferno: Literary and Philosophical Encounters", which will take place at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus Campus, 26-28 December, 2017
Chronica, 2023
CMS Alumnus Gur Zak, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies at the Heb... more CMS Alumnus Gur Zak, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Head of the Institute of Literatures, will give the 2023 CMS Alumni Lecture on April 14. Prof. Zak speaks to CMS Chronica about his interdisciplinary journey, and his new book and research on consolation and compassion.
Renaissance Quarterly, 2024
Renaissance Quarterly, Jan 1, 2010
An online book presentation on Friday, November 18th 12:00 pm EST, with ABA officers Kristina Ols... more An online book presentation on Friday, November 18th 12:00 pm EST, with ABA officers Kristina Olson, Valerio Cappozzo, and TIm Kircher (Guilford), Olivia Holmes (Binghamton), Simone Marchesi (Princeton). Zoom link:
https://olemiss.zoom.us/j/96347300622
The event will be transmitted via WebEx. Please register by email (bernhard.huss@fu-berlin.de) un... more The event will be transmitted via WebEx. Please register by email (bernhard.huss@fu-berlin.de) until Monday, oct. 26. You will receive information concerning your access to the event on Tuesday, oct. 27. *** Giovanni Conversini da Ravenna’s Rationarium vite, completed in 1400, is the first full-length autobiography written in the Latin west after Augustine’s Confessions. Despite this remarkable fact, Conversini’s work received only sporadic attention in accounts of early humanism or the history of autobiography. This presentation will seek to elucidate the Rationarium’s significance to the culture of early Italian humanism by examining it in light of Petrarch’s elaborate – yet fragmentary – autobiographical corpus. The presentation will concentrate on three interrelated issues: 1. Conversini’s use of self-writing as an ethical practice aimed at fashioning himself as a free and autonomous subject. 2. His adherence to the Petrarchan project of establishing humanism as a textual community bent on critiquing contemporary society and its corrupt institutions. 3. Conversini’s ongoing oscillation between two different ideals of selfhood in his self-representation: while he often lauds his Franciscan-like compassionate and soft nature, Conversini at the same time repeatedly exalts Stoic virility and self-control as the true essence of humanity.
