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.
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
