This is our backup site. Click here to visit our main site at MellenPress.com
Subject Area: Renaissance Studies
Barone, Robert2009 0-7734-4667-2 212 pages
Argues that the Elizabethan polymath John Dee was not the influential intellectual he purported himself to be. Dee’s scientific works were anachronistic and in no way heralded the new age of experimental science. This book traces the course of Dee’s life showing how he was a marginal figure and his works had little lasting value. It also provides a useful historiographical summation of Dee’s life and career.
Koitzsch, Kerry
2024 1-4955-1253-3 416 pages
"Further investment in the study of Reuchlin's work will add the considerable value of a new and somewhat under-studied view of the formative years of European understanding of the Hebrew language, theosophy, and mysticism. The Christian mutation of Kabbalism as understood in the nineteenth century is a direct consequence of Reuchlin's thought and interpretive writings, and variants of Christianized Kabbalah have been promulgated into the twenty-first century." -Kerry Koitzsch ("Preface")
Chandler, Wayne A.
2005 0-7734-6206-6 328 pages
Commendatory poems are a type of praise-poetry, written by one author to accompany the work of another. The poems were printed in the same volume as the work they commend, to which the author refers to as the subject work. The majority of English Renaissance commendatory verse-which forms the majority of all such verse-has been out of print since its original publication.
Iorio, Dominick A.
1991 0-7734-9697-1 340 pages
Aristotelian currents in Italian Renaissance philosophy are complex, distinctive, and significantly relevant to a complete history of philosophy for the period from the 14th to 17th centuries. Provides detailed expositions of some of the central philosophic portions of the most significant Aristotelian authors.
Grizans, Mary Ann
1997 3-7052-0134-4 200 pages
Explores diseased and mortified bodies in English Renaissance plays usually critically dismissed as gratuitous, decadent, or sensationalistic, and considers the signifying capability of these bodies within the plays, to account for the plays' 'horrific' qualities. Offers psychoanalytic reading of the madness, ghosts, death and violence.
Chandler, Wayne A.
2003 0-7734-6770-X 224 pages
Commendatory verse – poetry written by one author specifically to commend the work of another – presents a window on English Renaissance literary culture as wide and clear as any yet found, a window through which very few scholars have looked. This study examines particularly the paratextual functions of commendatory poetry and the relationship of those functions to contemporary Renaissance conceptions of authorship.
Kambaskovic-Sawers, Danijela
2010 0-7734-3766-5 428 pages
Establishes the presence of ambiguous, polyvalent characterisation of the first-person voice in the Petrarchan poem sequence. It argues that such characterisation triggers a reader-response mechanism characterised by ambivalence and interest which could be called splintered identification. This means of identifying helps promote reader-involvement and foster the perception of the sequence as an integral work, concerns which betray the presence of novelistic thinking. This book contains two color photographs.
Ciraulo, Darlene
2011 0-7734-1355-3 248 pages
Examines the influence of late antiquity Greek romances on the works of William Shakespeare and Sir Phillip Sidney.
Ricapito, Joseph V.
1997 0-7734-8556-2 140 pages
Examines the narrative features and numerous textual aspects of the Novelas ejemplares, and also takes into consideration certain external aspects like intertextual features and specific concerns within narratology. It undoes the apparent 'placidity' of the surface text in order to study the sub-textual currents, connections that exist at the base of the apparent text.
Giraldi, G. B.
1999 0-7734-8191-5 224 pages
This is the first reliable version of Giraldi's sole comedy, Gli Eudemoni (The Lucky Ones), completed in 1549. The five Acts of the play proper are preceded by a prologue, showing that, in all probability, it was intended for public performance; but there is some doubt as to whether the author ever in fact mounted a production of it. Illustrates the theories on comedy enunciated by the author in the contemporary Discorso intorno al comporre delle comedie e delle tragedie, first published in 1554.
Carman, Charles H.
2000 0-7734-7804-3 264 pages
Study about the ideals of humanism as they are manifest in the visual arts. Using, in particular, the notion of dignity as set forth by the well-known humanist Giannozzo Manetti in his book On the Dignity of Man, the author has subjected a number of art works to iconographical analysis. He examines works by Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, among others. The volume offers new iconographical interpretations of ‘old’ images as well as new insights into the interrelationships between artist and humanist. The text suggest that the artist assumed much of the intellectual responsibility of humanism by developing the means of effectively translating its ideals into visually legible terms.
Schneider, Ben Ross Jr.
2015 0-7734-4261-8 260 pages
A unique examination of Shakespeare’s different plays to prove the relevance of stoic philosophy, in the themes, ideas, and images that play out in his body of work. Contemporary interpreters of Shakespeare have ignored these primary philosophical sources of Renaissance thought that influenced the fundamental moral principles and thinking of his time.
Mulryne, J.R.
1992 0-7734-9608-4 440 pages
Essays from a specialist seminar held at University of Warwick, April 1990, under the auspices of Graduate school of Renaissance Studies. The essays examine festival occasions taking place between 1560 and 1660, and draw attention to some of the more vigorous developments of the form of political theater, not only in Italy but also Denmark, France, England, and the German-speaking states.
Urban, William Lawrence
1997 0-7734-8691-7 260 pages
This translation of Renner's 16th century Baltic chronicle is an important source for early modern Russian history, dealing with the rise of Ivan the Terrible. Renner was a secretary to one of the important officers and observed the political process first-hand and he had access to documents and correspondence. The text is extensively footnoted and includes maps to assist the reader in following the complexities of the opening years of the Great Livonian War 1558-1583.
Andreadis, Harriette A.
1975 0-7734-0536-4 250 pages
Mother Bombie is unique among Lyly's comedies in its urban setting and focus upon middle and lower class concerns. The play turns on the tissue of misconceptions surrounding the efforts of four fathers to secure socially advantageous marriages for their heirs, and the determination of their young servants to exploit their masters' misguided aspirations for their own advantage. A theatrical success in its own day, the play is of particular interest to twenty-first century criticism for its focus upon those situated on the margins of the social group, notably Mother Bombie herself, thought by some to be a witch, and the two simpletons whose marital prospects lie at the heart of the action. The play is newly re-edited from the earliest witnesses, the quartos of 1594 and 1598, and incorporates the songs first published by Blount in his collected edition of Lyly's works in 1632 and is the first fully annotated, modern-spelling edition of the play to have appeared for over thirty years and its publication sees the completion of the works of John Lyly in The Revels Plays.
Bottari, Rosaria
2015 1-4955-0364-X 188 pages
Manuscript is centred upon the Renaissance linguistic disputes and in particular, upon Latin vs. the Vernacular. This work, enlarging upon a subject not yet much explored, is extremely symptomatic and revealing of the intricate nexus of cultural, linguistic, philosophical and rhetorical issues, which characterize the linguistic ‘question’ of the second half of the sixteenth century.
Lindhardt, Jan
1986 0-88946-817-6 270 pages
Campion, Edmund J.
1995 0-7734-9029-9 172 pages
Explores the relationship between critical reading and creative imitation of the works of Erasmus by Montaigne, Rabelais, and Marot. This study makes judicious use of Erasmus' exegetical writings and his Colloquies in order to demonstrate how specific religious, ethical, and moral problems were treated in remarkably similar ways by Erasmus, Montaigne, Rabelais, and Marot.
Tabri, Edward A.
2005 0-7734-6228-7 244 pages
This monograph examines the culture of the first great Northern court of the early modem era, within the context of Charles's attempt to create a sovereign polity uniting both his French and Imperial fiefs.
Wong, Mitali P.
2006 0-7734-5687-2 284 pages
Rhetoric in sixteenth century English historical drama is intertwined with character development in relation to contemporary political paradigms. Recurring major political themes are those of strong rulership, stable government, the political responsibilities of the king, the peers, and the commons. Secondary themes are the need for monarchs to please their subjects, the need for both princes and peers to confront political reality with wisdom. This study concludes that Tudor dramatists were making the most of the politics of misunderstanding by exploiting the ambiguity inherent in rhetorical language. Tudor dramatists seriously questioned contemporary political doctrines by using oblique and “politic” rhetoric thereby shedding light upon the past in terms of the present in a fundamentally different way.
Giacomini, Laura
2017 1-4955-0556-1 472 pages
An exploration of he theme of the noble dwelling in the particular socio-political and cultural context of Spanish Milan in the Borromean period (1560-1631), moving between poles of private commoditas and publica elegentia and drawing on the concepts of magnificence, propriety, comfort and splendour. The text is written in Italian and contains 40 black and white photos.
Rolls, Albert
2015 1-4955-0332-1 468 pages
Synthesizes older and newer historical approaches to Renaissance texts in order to establish a reading of them that takes at its starting point the principles behind the period’s natural philosophy in order to reevaluate the theory of the king’s two bodies. Rolls presents a view of Renaissance thought that could adapt itself to new discoveries, and also turns to recent thinkers to interpret the material.
Jones, Thomas O.
1995 0-7734-9027-2 188 pages
Shows how the magical language and occult methods of the Italian Renaissance are the key to understanding the mysteries of the Shakespeare sonnets, both as a cycle and as individual poems. It explores how the influence of Giordano Bruno's Heroic Enthusiasms, Plato's Symposium, Trismegistus' Corpus Hermiticum, emblem books, and Italian "magic" in its various overlapping forms provided the foundation and content of Shakespeare's sonnets.
Passaro, Maria C. Pastore
2005 0-7734-6293-7 232 pages
Explores the discussion of the idealization of women in Medieval and Renaissance texts. Book's goals are: to show textual connections between literary masterpieces (and thus, delineate a literary history from within the texts) in order to show how authors consciously or unconsciously interact with one another regardless of time and boundaries; to present biographical and autobiographical heroines, their work and legacy; and finally to grasp man's imaginary world of women.
McKeown, William
2011 0-7734-1508-4 392 pages
Explores the importance of Venetian Renaissance paintings in the writings and political theories of John Ruskin. While the city and the architecture of Renaissance Venice has been extensively examined by Ruskin scholars, to date there has been little discussion on the influence of Venetian art on Ruskin’s world view. This book examines important Venetian paintings and how their iconography and pictorial components relate to themes in Ruskin’s writings. From these paintings, the book argues that Ruskin found inspiration for the conceptualization of his ideal society in which society exists harmoniously under the laws of justice, obedience, and cooperation.
Jacob, Alexander
2002 0-7734-6993-1 392 pages
Manuscript summarizes the history of Senecan influence in Tudor-Stuart drama, and yet has space and time to provide pages of excerpts from ancient historical and philosophical writers whose works influenced the three English dramas.
Cairns, Christopher
1996 0-7734-8814-6 340 pages
Papers collected in this volume were given at the Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, in March, 1993, at a conference organised to coincide with the English premiere of the first English-language staging of Pietro Aretino's Talanta. Grants had been obtained to construct the Roman perspective set described with such enthusiasm by contemporaries such as Vasari and Aretino himself for the Venice staging of the play in 1542. According to current research, the set has been seen as one of the earliest attempts to reproduce a real place on a stage with topographical accuracy. This set had been reconstructed full-size on the Aberystwyth stage according to the suggested source, and the play had been translated, adapted with new music and modern choreography. Experts on Renaissance theatre practice and in particular on aspects of staging and set-design gathered for this conference. Contains many photographs and drawings.
Wilkins, David G.
1996 0-7734-8867-7 276 pages
Modern studies have largely ignored the significant roles played by patrons who commissioned works in the arts during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This volume offers general studies on patronage and a series of specific illustrations of varied examples of patronage that range from ninth-century France to sixteenth-century Italy. Among the patrons considered are royalty such as King Richard II of England, Cosimo I de'Medici, and the members of the House of Savoy and others. By shedding new light on patronage, these studies assist us to understand the complex and fluid interrelationships that once motivated both patron and artist. With photographs.
Levin, Carole
1991 0-88946-078-7 289 pages
Focuses on the effects that radical instability, provoked in part by economical and theological transformations, had on gender relations and women's behavior during the English Renaissance.
DiSalvo, Angelo J.
2005 0-7734-5850-6 268 pages
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Spain produced a plethora of religious literature. The writers of mystical literature, such as Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross, are very well known. However, there are other work by religious writers such as Malón de Chaide, García Gómez de Cisneros, Alonso de Madrid, Luis de Granada, El Beato Orozco, Tomás de Villanueva and Ignatius of Loyola. These writers describe the process of devotional reading, mental prayer, meditation, contemplation, and spiritual as well as ascetical exercises in a context which is more methodical in nature.
Szatek-Tudor, Karoline
2015 1-4955-0418-2 280 pages
This ground breaking work is a comprehensive study that applies art, dramatic, and literary theory to examine the shaping effects of negative/positive space in English Renaissance pastoral drama from 1590-1640. This innovative approach to a genre long overlooked includes both major and minor plays which are examined to show how dramatists used the theory of negative/ positive space to write and dramatize their plays.
Cuir, Raphael
2009 0-7734-4657-5 280 pages
This book is the first to focus on a paradox of anatomical images from the Renaissance to the 18th century: the representation of skeletons and flayed figures in a state of animation, i. e. apparently endowed with life despite the logical impossibility of this being so. The exploration of this phenomenon—a paradox in modern eyes only—entails careful study of the deep coherence between artistic and anatomical theory, a coherence that developed within the same framework of thinking (humanist rhetoric), and was determined by a dominant philosophical concept (teleology).
Koitzsch, Kerry
2024 1-4955-1209-6 888 pages
"Johann Reuchlin's De Verbo Mirifico remains a crucially significant document in the history of Western esotericism, religion, and philosophy. First published in 1494, De Verbo is a testament to the enduring fascination with the Kaballah and its traditions. Reuchlin's first Kaballistic works as a foundation to his later Kaballistic study, De Arte Cabalistica." -Kerry Koitzsch
Luteran, Paula
2005 0-7734-6094-2 188 pages
Involves a comparison of the French Renaissance translation of the Amadís de Gaula by Nicholas Herberay des Essarts (1540) with the original Spanish medieval work of Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (1499). The groundwork is laid with a study of translation theory in medieval times and in the renaissance as well as in modern times. It is suggested that the work of Herberay des Essarts, as a free translation, might be more aptly seen as a transformation of Montalvo’s text.
Cairns, Christopher
1991 0-7734-9450-2 364 pages
This volume collects three Italian Renaissance comedies not readily available to the English-speaking reader and director: Ariosto's Lena (never before translated into English); Ruzante's Posh Talk (also never translated from the Paduan and Bergamask dialects); and Aretino's Talanta. Of contrasting styles, they share some characteristics, which mirror the advance of all Italian literature from humanism to the Counter-reformation, from Bembo to Sperone Speroni and from rudimentary or symbolic staging to a comparatively sophisticated realism in the treatment of stage space. With illustrations.
Horatia, Gillian
1997 0-7734-8659-3 272 pages
These are the first English translations of two of the most significant tragedies of the Italian Renaissance. Trissino's Sophonisba, written in 1515, is considered the first "regular" tragedy written in Italian and the one which paved the way for the other Italian and European tragedies of the century. Aretino's Horatia, published in Venice in 1546, has been hailed not only as one of the most important works of Aretino's literary production, but also as one of the best tragic compositions of sixteenth-century Europe.
Ruth, Jeffrey S.
2012 0-7734-2561-6 300 pages
Urban Honor in Spain is an historical study of Spain and the writing technique of laus urbis (praise of the city) during the 15th century. The book begins by providing an overview of laus urbis was developed and codified in oratory and classical literary texts during the Greco-Roman period. The book then explores how this powerful technique re-emerged during the Middle Ages to become a powerful corpus that formed an early national culture by praising cities and nations. In Medieval and Renaissance Spain, laus urbis, provided a sense of local community to city and town dwellers in the indefinite and blurry political frontier of Iberia during the Reconquista. Notwithstanding its historical significance, the book contributes to Spanish literary studies a profound and original examination of the theoretical and cultural reasons behind the concept of praising the city.