Selected Poetry and Prose
A Bilingual Edition
Edited and Translated by Elaine Maclachlan
With an Introduction by Giovanna Rabitti
232 pages
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5 halftones, 2 tables
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6 x 9
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© 2007
Chiara Matraini (1515–1604?) was a member of the great flowering of poetic imitators and innovators in the Italian literary heritage begun by Petrarch, cultivated later by the lyric poet Pietro Bembo, and supplanted by the epic poet Torquato Tasso. Though without formal training, Matraini excelled in a number of literary genres popular at the time—poetry, religious meditation, discourse, and dialogue. In her midlife, she published a collection of erotic love poetry, but later in life her work shifted toward a search for spiritual salvation. Near the end of her life, she published a new poetry retrospective.
Mostly available in only a handful of rare book collections, her writings are now adeptly translated here for an English-speaking audience and situated historically in an introduction by noted Matraini expert Giovanna Rabitti. Selected Poetry and Prose allows the poet to finally take her place as one of the seminal authors of the Renaissance, next to her contemporaries Vittoria Colonna and Laura Battiferra, also published in the Other Voice series.
Mostly available in only a handful of rare book collections, her writings are now adeptly translated here for an English-speaking audience and situated historically in an introduction by noted Matraini expert Giovanna Rabitti. Selected Poetry and Prose allows the poet to finally take her place as one of the seminal authors of the Renaissance, next to her contemporaries Vittoria Colonna and Laura Battiferra, also published in the Other Voice series.
Choice
"As usual in this series, introduction, footnotes, translations and bibliography combine to provide everything the English-speaking reader could possibly want in order to begin the (thoroughly worthwhile) experience of engaging with the writing. . . . Anyone interested in Italian and comparative literature, early moden studies, or women's writing will appreciate this excellent bilingual edition."
Maria Galli Stampino | H-Net Review
"The quality of Elaine Maclachlan's translations as well as Rabitti's thorough introduction will undoubtedly spark the attention of students and scholars that Matraini's work richly deserves. This is indeed a comprehensive and extensive anthology that profits from the collaboration of the scholar who has done the most research on Mattraini's life and writings (Rabitti) and of a translator who, in turn, knows her subject matter exhaustively."
Contents
Acknowledgements
Series Editors' Introduction
Volume Introduction, by Giovanna Rabitti
Volume Editor's Bibliography
I 1555/56 Volume (Book A)
II Spiritual Meditations
III Considerations on the Seven Penitential Psalms of the Great King and Prophet David
IV A Brief Discourse on the Life and Praise of the Most Blessed Virgin and Mother of the Son of God
V 1597 Volume (Book C)
VI Spiritual Dialogues
Appendix: Derivative Lines in Matraini's Poetry
Notes
Series Editors' Bibliography
Index of First Lines
General Index
Series Editors' Introduction
Volume Introduction, by Giovanna Rabitti
Volume Editor's Bibliography
I 1555/56 Volume (Book A)
II Spiritual Meditations
III Considerations on the Seven Penitential Psalms of the Great King and Prophet David
IV A Brief Discourse on the Life and Praise of the Most Blessed Virgin and Mother of the Son of God
V 1597 Volume (Book C)
VI Spiritual Dialogues
Appendix: Derivative Lines in Matraini's Poetry
Notes
Series Editors' Bibliography
Index of First Lines
General Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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History: European History
Literature and Literary Criticism: Poetry | Romance Languages
Religion: Religion and Literature
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