Italian literature

This article analyses Codex MM 667 a manuscript housed at the Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai in Bergamo which has recently come to light thanks to the constant updates available on Manus Online. the database contains a partial copy of Pseudo Gentile Sermini’s Novelle which was copied in the 19th century by Pietro Nicolò Oliva del Turco from Giovanni de Varga’s transcription. though it is merely a transcribed copy and thus irrelevant in terms of textual reconstruction it nonetheless bears witness to the work methods adopted by one of the many bibliophiles who in the 19th century sought to draw attention to the novella as a genre. the notes contained in the manuscript and the exchange between Oliva del Turco and de Varga attest to a renewed interest not only in this particular genre but also in old language forms such as Florentine and especially other vernaculars which were examined both synchronically and diachronically to further appreciate their variety and complexity.

This article relates the discovery of a new archival resource containing letters exchanged between Primo Levi and Ferdinand Meyer his former supervisor at the Buna laboratory at Auschwitz-Monowitz. Through a reconstruction and analysis not only of the various phases of their correspondence but also of a myriad of other letters connected to their exchange this article reveals for the first time that such a network was far more extensive than previously imagined. The article also provides details on the archive where the complete correspondence is available for consultation.

a cura di Maria Luisa Doglio Roberto Galbiati Luisella Giachino Enrico Mattioda

Si parla di: Petrarca. – PONTANO. – «Moderni e antichi». – L. FERRAROTTI. – E. REFINI. – C. DE’ DOTTORI. – Arcadia. – A. BOITO. – A. BATTISTINI.

This article calls for renewed attention to Simone della Tosa’s Annals a 14th-century Tuscan chronicle. the recent discovery of a coeval manuscript which may very well be the original reveals the interpolated nature of the only existing edition and thus the need for a new critical edition.

Codificata a partire da una sezione specifica del corpus aristotelico la logica rappresentava nel Medioevo latino quell’"arte delle arti" (ars artium) che studiava le regole del ragionamento corretto e le era riconosciuta una universalità di tipo strumentale. Come notato sin dai primi biografi e commentatori Dante dimostra in svariate occasioni una maestria e una padronanza della materia del tutto degne per dirla col Boccaccio di un «maraviglioso loïco». Giustamente celebri sono i versi di Inferno XXVII in cui «un d’i neri cherubini» con un raffinato ragionamento strappa l’anima di Guido da Montefeltro all’impotente San Francesco («forse / tu non pensavi ch’io loïco fossi!» v. 123); ma è soprattutto nel Convivio nella Monarchia e nella controversa Questio de aqua et terra che l’Alighieri sfoggia una competenza difficilmente riducibile alla consultazione occasionale di qualche ‘manuale’. Questo studio analizza sistematicamente i passaggi dell’opera dantesca riconducibili a questo specifico ambito disciplinare; e offre una panoramica sugli ambienti culturali in cui il Poeta avrebbe verosimilmente potuto formarsi (Firenze Bologna la Toscana occidentale la marca Trevigiana). Da un lato quindi si inserisce nel fortunato filone di studi che si è occupato di valutare la conoscenza che Dante poté avere delle dottrine di Aristotele e dei suoi interpreti. Dall’altro tenta di ricostruire i tempi i luoghi e i modi in cui «peregrino quasi mendicando» poté acquisire tale competenza specialistica. In tal modo non viene solo illuminato un lato inesplorato di questo eccezionale «amatore di sapienza» ma viene anche offerto uno scorcio privilegiato sullo stato delle conoscenze filosofiche in Italia fra XIII e XIV secolo.

Traditionally attributed to King Solomon and defined by Rabbi Aqiva as the Holy of Holies among the sacred Scriptures the Song of Songs is one of the most fascinating and controversial biblical books. Celebrated as a key to the supreme mystery of the union between God and the faithful this ambivalent book which combined a sensual celebration of love with a well-established tradition of allegorical interpretation was a text crucial to both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and held a particular appeal for poets. Indeed the Song of Songs played a significant role in the development of European poetry from its very beginning creating an exceptional convergence of sacred and secular languages and horizons of meaning.

Written by a group of distinguished international scholars this volume explores the complex and multifaceted processes through which the Song of Songs entered influenced and interacted with medieval and Renaissance European poetry (twelfth to seventeenth centuries). Focusing on both individual authors – including Peter Riga Dante Alighieri Richard Rolle and George Herbert – and particularly relevant poetic traditions – including Hebrew liturgical poetry and the Tristan and Ysolt tradition Middle English and Petrarchan lyric Renaissance verse versions and seventeenth-century musical compositions dissident and prophetic texts – the volume unveils the relevant role played by the biblical book in the development of European poetry thought and spirituality highlighting its ability to contribute to different poetic genres and give voice to a variety of religious political philosophical and artistic intentions.

Si parla di: Dante. – L. B. Alberti. – F. Baricci. – «Schede Umanistiche /Antichi e Moderni». – M. Capriotti. – F. Galiani. – E. Bufacchi

Niccolò Machiavelli Lettere a cura di Francesco Bausi et alii (Jean-Louis Fournel) p. 622 – Gabriele Bucchi Il grido del pavone. Alessandro Tassoni tra fascinazione eroica e demistificazione scettica. (Luca Ferraro) p. 625.