Publisher:
Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
"The first book in English to examine Leon Battista Alberti's major literary works in Latin and Italian, whch are often overshadowed by his achievements in architecture. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) was one of the most prolific and original...
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Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky
Inter-library loan:
No inter-library loan
"The first book in English to examine Leon Battista Alberti's major literary works in Latin and Italian, whch are often overshadowed by his achievements in architecture. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) was one of the most prolific and original writers of the Italian Renaissance-a fact often eclipsed by his more celebrated achievements as an art theorist and architect, and by Jacob Burckhardt's mythologising of Alberti as a "Renaissance or Universal Man." In this book, Martin McLaughlin counters this partial perspective on Alberti, considering him more broadly as a writer dedicated to literature and humanism, a major protagonist and experimentalist in the literary scene of early Renaissance Italy. McLaughlin, a noted authority on Alberti, examines all of Alberti's major works in Latin and the Italian vernacular and analyzes his vast knowledge of classical texts and culture. McLaughlin begins with what we know of Alberti's life, comparing the facts laid out in Alberti's autobiography with the myth created in the nineteenth century by Burckhardt, before moving on to his extraordinarily wide knowledge of classical texts. He then turns to Alberti's works, tracing his development as a writer through texts that range from an early comedy in Latin successfully passed off as the work of a fictitious ancient author to later philosophical dialogues written in the Italian vernacular (a revolutionary choice at the time); humorous works in Latin, including the first novel in that language since antiquity; and the famous treatises on painting and architecture. McLaughlin also examines the astonishing range of Alberti's ancient sources and how this reading influenced his writing; what the humanist read, he argues, often explains what he wrote, and what he wrote reflected his relentless industry and pursuit oforiginality"-- "A fresh, accessible, and rounded synthesis of the life and literary work of an important Renaissance figure"--
Frontmatter -- contents -- acknowledgements -- abbreviations -- part i Alberti’s Life and Humanism -- chapter 1 Alberti’s Life -- chapter 2 Alberti and Burckhardt: The Construction of a Myth -- chapter 3 Alberti and the Redirection of Renaissance Humanism -- part ii The Early Latin Works -- chapter 4 The First Work: Philodoxeos fabula -- chapter 5 Finding a Voice: De commodis litterarum atque incommodis and Vita S. Potiti -- PART III ELEVATING THE VER NACUL AR -- chapter 6 Thematic and Structural Unity in De familia -- chapter 7 Stoic Pessimism and Classical Culture in Theogenius -- chapter 8 The High-Water Mark of Alberti’s Vernacular Humanism: Profugiorum ab erumna libri -- part iv Expanding the Confines of Latin -- chapter 9 Technical Treatises I: Bilingualism and Rhetorical Strategies in De pictura -- chapter 10 The Major Humorous Works I: Intercenales -- chapter 11 The Major Humorous Works II: Momus -- chapter 12 Technical Treatises II: The Two Cultures in De re aedificatoria -- Conclusion -- notes -- Index
