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Petrarch and His World
Petrarch is an ideal subject for biography, and he has found the perfect biographer in Morris Bishop, whose scholarship is both authoritative and unobtrusive, and whose urbane prose sparkles with color and wit. Yet this is more than a biography, for Petrarch's story is told against the background of a pageant of daily life in the later Middle Ages―sometimes brilliant, sometimes squalid, sometimes merely human.
Many selections from Petrarch's poems and prose writings, in Mr. Bishop's deft translation, depict Petrarch's many-sided character in his own words, while twelve drawings by Alison Mason Kingsbury provide a rich embellishment for this entertaining book.
Many selections from Petrarch's poems and prose writings, in Mr. Bishop's deft translation, depict Petrarch's many-sided character in his own words, while twelve drawings by Alison Mason Kingsbury provide a rich embellishment for this entertaining book.
Hardcover
First published February 28, 1963
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 25, 2021
44. Petrarch and His World by Morris Bishop
illustrations: Alison Mason Kingsbury
published: 1964
format: 380-page hardcover
acquired: December
read: Sep 4-21
time reading: 17:51, 2.8 mpp
rating: 4
locations: 1300’s Bologna, Avignon, Vaucluse, Rome, Milan, Padua, Venice, Arquà…
about the author:1893-1973 An American professor at Cornell, and WWI veteran who grew up in Brantford, Ontario, Geneva, NY and Yonkers NY.
More Petrarch. Maybe this will be the end. This is second biography I have read of Petrarch this year. This one is older, from 1964, and by a 1930‘s translator of Petrarch‘s Canzoniere Morris Bishop (His translation is titled Love Rimes Of Petrarch). What I got out of this was a reminder that Petrarch led an interesting life, that he left behind extensive personal writings in the voice of someone who sounds modern and familiar, even exposing their inner insecurities. The first modern man (or at least the earliest one widely identified, or maybe just the first person to come across as relatable). The biography is well done, with extensive interesting, translated sections from his letters and works. (and lovely illustrations by the author‘s spouse, Alison Mason Kingsbury). It‘s not, however, the translator‘s critique of the Canzonierre that I was maybe hoping for.
Pictured is Kingsbury‘s illustration for Vacluse, Petrarch‘s place of self-isolation near Avignon, where he did an extensive amount of his writing.
illustrations: Alison Mason Kingsbury
published: 1964
format: 380-page hardcover
acquired: December
read: Sep 4-21
time reading: 17:51, 2.8 mpp
rating: 4
locations: 1300’s Bologna, Avignon, Vaucluse, Rome, Milan, Padua, Venice, Arquà…
about the author:1893-1973 An American professor at Cornell, and WWI veteran who grew up in Brantford, Ontario, Geneva, NY and Yonkers NY.
More Petrarch. Maybe this will be the end. This is second biography I have read of Petrarch this year. This one is older, from 1964, and by a 1930‘s translator of Petrarch‘s Canzoniere Morris Bishop (His translation is titled Love Rimes Of Petrarch). What I got out of this was a reminder that Petrarch led an interesting life, that he left behind extensive personal writings in the voice of someone who sounds modern and familiar, even exposing their inner insecurities. The first modern man (or at least the earliest one widely identified, or maybe just the first person to come across as relatable). The biography is well done, with extensive interesting, translated sections from his letters and works. (and lovely illustrations by the author‘s spouse, Alison Mason Kingsbury). It‘s not, however, the translator‘s critique of the Canzonierre that I was maybe hoping for.
Pictured is Kingsbury‘s illustration for Vacluse, Petrarch‘s place of self-isolation near Avignon, where he did an extensive amount of his writing.
Displaying 1 of 1 review