Brieven

by Francesco Petrarca, Frans van Dooren (Translator)

Keuze uit de brieven van de Italiaanse dichter en humanist (1304-1374).

Genres: Literature

304 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998

About the author

Famous Italian poet, scholar, and humanist Francesco Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch, collected love lyrics in Canzoniere .

People often call Petrarch the earliest Renaissance "father of humanism". Based on Petrarch's works, and to a lesser extent those of Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio, Pietro Bembo in the 16th century created the model for the modern Italian language, which the Accademia della Crusca later endorsed. People credit Petrarch with developing the sonnet. They admired and imitated his sonnets, a model for lyrical poems throughout Europe during the Renaissance. Petrarch called the Middle Ages the Dark Ages.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

These letters breath very different moods and perspectives, they fuse human feelings and cultural engagement. It illustrates Petrarca's character: uncertain, doubtful, melancholic, and egocentric. At the same time he's disarmingly honest and vain. The letters clearly were polished with a view to publication. A disturbing aspect: one-sided focus on the ancient roman heritage, not the Greek.

[Arjan Van Noort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gek om een Review te schrijven van een boek uit de middeleeuwen! Verrassend modern in taal en redeneringen, een beetje antiek in de overdreven bescheidenheid (die mij niet erg gemeend lijkt) en hoogst interessant inkijkje in de denkwereld van een 14e eeuwse intellectueel. Mooie vertaling en zowel leerzaam over de tijd waarin Petrarca zelf leefde als over de door hem opnieuw op de kaart gezette Romeinse tijd.