Machiavelli in Love: Sex, Self, and Society in the Italian Renaissance

by Guido Ruggiero

Overview

A “provocative” study of sex and sexual identity in Renaissance Italy, explored through major literary works and historical archives (Choice).

Machiavelli in Love introduces a complex concept of sex and sexual identity and their roles in the culture and politics of the Italian Renaissance. Guido Ruggiero’s study counters the consensus among historians and literary critics that there was little sense of individual identity and almost no sense of sexual identity before the modern period.

Drawing from the works of major literary figures such as Boccaccio, Aretino, and Castiglione, and rereading them against archival evidence, Ruggiero examines the concept of identity via consensus realities of family, neighbors, friends, and social peers, as well as broader communities and solidarities. The author contends that Renaissance Italians understood sexual identity as a part of the human life cycle, something that changed throughout stages of youthful experimentation, marriage, adult companionship, and old age.

Machiavelli’s letters and literary production reveal a fascinating construction of self that is highly reliant on sexual reputation. Ruggiero’s challenging reinterpretation of this canonical figure, as well as his unique treatment of other major works of the period, offer new approaches for reading Renaissance literature and new understandings of the way life was lived and perceived during this time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801892028
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	02/16/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	518
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Guido Ruggiero is professor and chair of the Department of History at the University of Miami. He is coeditor and cotranslator of Five Comedies from the Italian Renaissance, also published by Johns Hopkins, and author of several books, including Sex and Gender in Historical Perspective; Binding Passions: Tales of Magic, Marriage, and Power at the End of the Renaissance; and The Boundaries of Eros: Sex, Crime, and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Of Birds, Figs, and Sexual Identity in the Renaissance, or The Marescalco's Boy Bride
2. Playing with the Devil: The Pleasures and Dangers of Sex and Play
3. The Abbot's Concubine: Renaissance Lies, Literature, and Power
4. Brunelleschi's First Masterpiece, or Mean Streets, Familiar Streets, Masculine Spaces, and Identity in Renaissance Florence
5. Machiavelli in Love: The Self-Presentation of an Aging Lover
6. Death and Resurrection and the Regime of Virtù, or Of Princes, Lovers, and Prickly Pears
Afterword: How Machiavelli Put the Devil Back in Hell
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Edward Muir

A book that no one will be able to ignore in historical, gender, and Italian literary studies. Here Ruggiero breaks new ground, especially with his keen eye for connecting fiction with social experience.

— Edward Muir, Northwestern University, author of Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice and Mad Blood Stirring: Vendetta and Factions in Friuli during the Renaissance

From the Publisher

A book that no one will be able to ignore in historical, gender, and Italian literary studies. Here Ruggiero breaks new ground, especially with his keen eye for connecting fiction with social experience.
—Edward Muir, Northwestern University, author of Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice and Mad Blood Stirring: Vendetta and Factions in Friuli during the Renaissance

Editorial Reviews

This provocative and complicated work about sex and self-fashioning sits at the nexus of historical and literary studies . . . It challenges readers to rethink both traditional literary interpretations and historical understanding.
—Choice

Ruggiero's intent in Machiavelli in Love is much more than a recasting of Machiavelli: it is to examine self and identity in the Renaissance . . . One can applaud his insertion of the playful into our sense of the Renaissance.
—Thomas Kuehn, Renaissance Quarterly

Add to your reading list Johns Hopkins' study of sex, self, and society.
—Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance

Innovative in its technique, subtle and revealing in its arguments, and whenever it turns to the theme of sodomy, throws off brilliant light.
—Randolph Trumbach, American Historical Review

Readers of Machiavelli in Love will certainly come away with a feeling for the playfulness of Renaissance sexuality. One of the book's achievements is that it shows the extent to which the literature of high culture had deep roots in everyday experience. Few will ever again doubt the importance of sex in creating Renaissance identity.
—William J. Connell, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Ruggiero provides challenging accounts of public ethics and private morality by analysing a selection of literary and archival material. Armed with humour and determination, he deciphers the subtle codes of Renaissance narratives, and comments on the various ways in which identity and sexuality were constructed, understood and politicised.
—Stamatoula Panagakou, Political Studies Review

This is a veteran historian’s book of literary speculation . . . It is also, I suspect, a teacher’s book. It favors texts that enliven an English-speaking classroom on Italian history both because they support good lessons and because they bring students into engagement with the Italian past. How better to stir up Anglo-Saxon students, after all, than with tales, tragic or comical, that touch on passion, tenderness, deception, loss, or ribaldry!
—Thomas Cohen, H-Italy, H-Net Reviews

Written in the accessible narrative style that Ruggiero’s readers will recognize, the study is a lively investigation that raises a central question about how the construction of self was dependent on sexual reputation.
—Gerry Milligan, Annali d' Italianistica

Ultimately makes a remarkable case for the integration of individual and societal identity within an understanding of the Italian Renaissance.
—Jason Hardgrave, European History Quarterly

Having to think creatively and act daringly under changing circumstances, this diaspora presents scholars with a fascinating and complex challenge of probing a spectrum of hybrid, fluid, and shifting identities.
—Louis Haas, Sixteenth Century Journal

Suggestive new readings of an unusual range of texts.
—Gary Cestaro, Journal of the History of Sexuality

From the Publisher

This is a veteran historian’s book of literary speculation . . . It is also, I suspect, a teacher’s book. It favors texts that enliven an English-speaking classroom on Italian history both because they support good lessons and because they bring students into engagement with the Italian past. How better to stir up Anglo-Saxon students, after all, than with tales, tragic or comical, that touch on passion, tenderness, deception, loss, or ribaldry!

H-Italy, H-Net Reviews - Thomas Cohen

Add to your reading list Johns Hopkins' study of sex, self, and society.

Bibliotheque d'Humanisme et Renaissance

Written in the accessible narrative style that Ruggiero’s readers will recognize, the study is a lively investigation that raises a central question about how the construction of self was dependent on sexual reputation.

Annali d' Italianistica - Gerry Milligan

Having to think creatively and act daringly under changing circumstances, this diaspora presents scholars with a fascinating and complex challenge of probing a spectrum of hybrid, fluid, and shifting identities.

Sixteenth Century Journal - Louis Haas

Readers of Machiavelli in Love will certainly come away with a feeling for the playfulness of Renaissance sexuality. One of the book's achievements is that it shows the extent to which the literature of high culture had deep roots in everyday experience. Few will ever again doubt the importance of sex in creating Renaissance identity.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History - William J. Connell

Ruggiero's intent in Machiavelli in Love is much more than a recasting of Machiavelli: it is to examine self and identity in the Renaissance . . . One can applaud his insertion of the playful into our sense of the Renaissance.

Renaissance Quarterly - Thomas Kuehn

Ultimately makes a remarkable case for the integration of individual and societal identity within an understanding of the Italian Renaissance.

European History Quarterly - Jason Hardgrave

Suggestive new readings of an unusual range of texts.

Journal of the History of Sexuality - Gary Cestaro

This provocative and complicated work about sex and self-fashioning sits at the nexus of historical and literary studies . . . It challenges readers to rethink both traditional literary interpretations and historical understanding.

Choice

Ruggiero provides challenging accounts of public ethics and private morality by analysing a selection of literary and archival material. Armed with humour and determination, he deciphers the subtle codes of Renaissance narratives, and comments on the various ways in which identity and sexuality were constructed, understood and politicised.

Political Studies Review - Stamatoula Panagakou

Innovative in its technique, subtle and revealing in its arguments, and whenever it turns to the theme of sodomy, throws off brilliant light.

American Historical Review - Randolph Trumbach

Suggestive new readings of an unusual range of texts.

— Gary Cestaro

Journal of the History of Sexuality

Having to think creatively and act daringly under changing circumstances, this diaspora presents scholars with a fascinating and complex challenge of probing a spectrum of hybrid, fluid, and shifting identities.

— Louis Haas

Sixteenth-Century Journal

Ultimately makes a remarkable case for the integration of individual and societal identity within an understanding of the Italian Renaissance.

— Jason Hardgrave

European History Quarterly

Written in the accessible narrative style that Ruggiero’s readers will recognize, the study is a lively investigation that raises a central question about how the construction of self was dependent on sexual reputation.

— Gerry Milligan

Annali d' Italianistica

Ruggiero provides challenging accounts of public ethics and private morality by analysing a selection of literary and archival material. Armed with humour and determination, he deciphers the subtle codes of Renaissance narratives, and comments on the various ways in which identity and sexuality were constructed, understood and politicised.

— Stamatoula Panagakou

Political Studies Review

Readers of Machiavelli in Love will certainly come away with a feeling for the playfulness of Renaissance sexuality. One of the book's achievements is that it shows the extent to which the literature of high culture had deep roots in everyday experience. Few will ever again doubt the importance of sex in creating Renaissance identity.

— William J. Connell

Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Innovative in its technique, subtle and revealing in its arguments, and whenever it turns to the theme of sodomy, throws off brilliant light.

— Randolph Trumbach

American Historical Review

Ruggiero's intent in Machiavelli in Love is much more than a recasting of Machiavelli: it is to examine self and identity in the Renaissance... One can applaud his insertion of the playful into our sense of the Renaissance.

— Thomas Kuehn

Renaissance Quarterly