The Poetics of Ariosto

by Marianne Shapiro

Marianne Shapiro provides the first work since the sixteenth century to delve into the deep structure of Ariosto's poetics and relate them effectively to the main tendencies of Renaissance literature....She deals with the social and economic factors that dictated the distribution of powers...between poet and patron...and...Ariosto's use of...androgyny, practical jokes and mirroring and doubling....It is a welcome and needed work, rich in inference, guidance, and commentary on Renaissance fiction.

--from the book jacket

279 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1988