The Renaissance Dialogue, Special Issue
NEMLA Italian Studies, Vol. XXXViii, 2016, pp. 245.
Associate Professor Roberta Ricci is the editor of the issue, co-author of the introduction, and also contributed a philological essay on Poggio Bracciolini's script, titled, Umanesimo letterario, riforma grafica: Poggio Bracciolini, editore, filologo e copista.
History of Art Professor David Cast contributed the essay On Maniera, Moral Choice, and Truth.
Mindful of recent studies on gender and feminist scholarship, cities and space, marginal groups, and broader critical articulation of public and private life in the analysis of constructing identity, this monographic volume reflects closely upon such textual and cultural intersections. Within the humanities and the sciences of the early-modern time, specific attention has been given to vernacular production (in philosophy and literature), decoration and paintings (in art history and literature), rhetoric and theory (in theater), scientific investigations (in neuroscience and philosophy), empirical observations (in environmental studies and natural philosophy), scripts (in paleography and philology), and magic (in literature and, again, theater). The bulk of the essays elaborates on questions connected with geo-political issues, pluralism, diversity, and ongoing social and moral interactions, reflecting on how strongly they resonate in early-modern time and today.
More from Ricci: "This 2016 monographic issue of NeMLA Italian Studies aims at joining the many celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the first publication of Orlando Furioso (1516), an epic masterpiece in Western literature. Yet its publication happens, sadly, at the same time as alarming episodes of discrimination pit groups and individuals against each other on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, migration status, and class. Stressing the role played by Ariosto in re-mapping knowledge in 16th century Italy (and beyond) provides the opportunity to link his literary genius to the interdisciplinary core of our volume, where we emphasize that diversity, pluralism, and difference ought to remain the basic principles of human understanding."