ECU Libraries Catalog

Selected letters / Francesco Petrarca ; translated by Elaine Fantham.

Author/creator Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374 author.
Other author/creatorFantham, Elaine translator.
Included WorkPetrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374. Correspondence. Selections.
Included WorkPetrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374. Correspondence. Selections. English.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2017.
Descriptionvolumes ; cm.
Subject(s)
Series The I Tatti Renaissance library ; 76
I Tatti Renaissance library ; 76-77. ^A481188
Abstract We naturally think of Petrarca first as a poet. But he was much more than that. The first of the great scholar-poets of the Renaissance, Petrarca was instrumental in establishing as a cultural goal the rediscovery and collection of manuscripts of the ancient Latin authors; thanks to Petrarca the humanist scholars who followed him became the main conduit for the transmission and revitalization of classical learning, a necessary condition of the wider European Renaissance. Even more significant was Petrarca's role in shaping the literary movement that became known as humanism, a movement that for centuries promoted the study and cultivation of Latin literature. A charismatic figure with a gift for friendship, his life - revealed above all in his letters - became a model for how to live a literary life, how to reconcile the study of pagan literature with sincere Christian belief, and how the study of ancient languages and literatures could serve both true religion and the public world of princes and republics, as well as promote moral excellence in mankind as a whole. He gave the humanities a set of ideals that they fed upon for centuries. He taught how the civic virtues and philosophical wisdom of the pagans could be combined with Christian teachings to produce a a richer civilization. He taught that the humanistic study of antiquity could transform lives and bring back virtue as a personal and public ideal. He more than anyone planted the great tree of Christian classicism which flourished in the West down to modern times.-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
LanguageThis is a facing-page volume: Latin on the versos; English translation on the rectos.
Genre/formRecords and correspondence.
LCCN 2016011703
ISBN9780674058347 (v. 1 : alk. paper)
ISBN0674058348
ISBN9780674971622 (v. 2 : alk. paper)
ISBN0674971620

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PQ4496 .E29 E21 2016 ✔ Available Place Hold