Donald Beecher

Grant Williams

Mind and Memory in Renaissance Culture

Ars Reminiscendi

Andrew Wallace

Travis DeCook

Materializing Injustice in Early Modern English Literature

Taking Exception to the Law

Lodovico Ariosto

George Gascoigne

John Anthony Butler

Supposes (I Suppositi) (1509)

Massimo Ciavolella

Jacques Ferrand

Going from the philosophical definition of love to chemical remedies, this work is an encyclopedia of love in the Renaissance viewed from a medical point of view.

De la maladie d'amour ou mélancolie érotique

The Medical Traditions of Love in the Renaissance

Eros and Anteros

Giovanni Francesco Straparola

This full critical edition of The Pleasant Nights presents these stories in English for the first time in over a century. The text takes its inspiration from the celebrated Waters translation, which is entirely revised here to render it both more faithful to the original and more sparkishly idiomatic than ever before. The stories are accompanied by a rich sampling of illustrations, including originals from nineteenth-century English and French versions of the text.

The Pleasant Nights

Thomas Lodge

Victoria University (Toronto, Ont.). Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies

Henry D. Janzen

A Margarite of America (1596)

A rich and multi-faceted aspect of the Italian Renaissance, the comedy has been largely overlooked as a cultural force during the period. In Renaissance Comedy, editor Donald Beecher corrects this oversight with a collection of eleven comedies representative of the principal styles of writing that define the genre. Proceeding from early, ?erudite? imitations of Plautus and Terence to satires, sentimental plays of the middle years, and later, more experimental works, the development of Italian Renaissance comedy is here dissected in a fascinating and vivid light. This first of two volumes boasts five of the best-known plays of the period, each with its own historical and critical introduction. Also included is a general introduction by the editor, which discusses the features of Italian Renaissance comedy, as well as examines the stage histories of the plays and what little is known, in many cases, of the circumstances surrounding their original performances. The introduction raises questions concerning the nature of audiences, the festival occasions during which the plays were performed, and the academies which sponsored many of their creations. As a much-needed reappraisal of these comedic plays, Renaissance Comedy is an invaluable look at the performance history of the Renaissance and Italian culture in general.

The Italian Masters

Renaissance Comedy

In this second volume of Renaissance Comedy, Donald Beecher presents six more of the best-known plays of the period, each with its own introduction, reading notes, and annotations. Beecher's general introduction, though stand-alone, complements and extends the historical and critical essay prefacing the first volume. Together, the eleven plays in both volumes illuminate the range, variety, and development of the Italian comedy. The second volume of Renaissance Comedy raises fascinating questions about the uses of classical literature, the conventions of comedy, the politics of theatrical production, and the representation of contemporary social issues. Though it is clear that comedic plays exercised considerable influence over the development of European drama, these plays are above all remarkable for their sheer wit and invention, and their capacity to generate laughter and admiration in readers nearly half a millennium later.

Roberto Fedi

This collection of essays brings together twelve noted Italian and American scholars to provide a complete picture of Ariosto and all his works as an integration of tradition and invention.

Contemporary Perspectives

Ariosto Today

Donald Beecher

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