A major re-evaluation of Boccaccio's status as literary innovator and cultural mediator equal to that of Petrarch and Dante.

This Companion provides a comprehensive and revisionary account of the life and works of Giovanni Boccaccio and his reception over the seven hundred years since his birth. Drawing upon the most recent research and archival discoveries, this collection of essays re-evaluates Boccaccio's status within the Italian and global literary canon.

An account of the life and works of Petrarch, scholar and poet, and his influence on European literature and culture.

Table of contents

Leading international contributors present a lively and interdisciplinary panorama of the Italian Renaissance as it has developed in recent decades.

From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, humanism played a key role in European culture. Beginning as a movement based on the recovery, interpretation and imitation of ancient Greek and Roman texts and the archaeological study of the physical remains of antiquity, humanism turned into a dynamic cultural programme, influencing almost every facet of Renaissance intellectual life. The fourteen essays in this 1996 volume deal with all aspects of the movement, from language learning to the development of science, from the effect of humanism on biblical study to its influence on art, from its Italian origins to its manifestations in the literature of More, Sidney and Shakespeare. A detailed biographical index, and a guide to further reading, are provided. Overall, The Cambridge Companion to Renaissance Humanism provides a comprehensive introduction to a major movement in the culture of early modern Europe.

Accessible and informative account of Dante's great Commedia: its purpose, themes and styles, and its reception over the centuries.