Baldo Contributor(s): Folengo, Teofilo (Author), Mullaney, Ann E. (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0674031245 ISBN-13: 9780674031241 Publisher: Harvard University Press OUR PRICE: $34.65 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Language: Latin Published: November 2008 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Poetry | Ancient & Classical - Poetry | Epic |
Dewey: 871.04 |
LCCN: 2006052943 |
Series: I Tatti Renaissance Library |
Physical Information: 1.4" H x 5.5" W x 8" (1.41 lbs) 560 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Italy - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Teofilo Folengo (1491-1544) was born in Mantua and joined the Benedictine order, but became a runaway monk and a satirist of monasticism. In 1517 he published, under the pseudonym Merlin Cocaio, the first version of his macaronic narrative poem Baldo, later enlarged and elaborated. It blended Latin with various Italian dialects in hexameter verse, inventing a deliberately droll language whose humor depends on the mixture of high and low tonalities. An important example of the mock-heroic epic, the work was a model for Rabelais and was frequently reprinted. Baldo, the hero of these picaresque adventures, is a descendant of French royalty who starts out as something of a juvenile delinquent. The poem narrates episodes that include imprisonment; battles with local authorities, pirates, shepherds, witches, and demons; and a journey to the underworld. Throughout Baldo is accompanied by various companions, among them a giant, a centaur, a magician, and his best friend Cingar, a wickedly inventive trickster ("practicus ad beffas"). This edition provides the first English translation of this hilarious send-up of ancient epic and Renaissance chivalric romance. |
Contributor Bio(s): Mullaney, Ann E.: - Ann E. Mullaney holds a Ph.D. in Italian Language and Literature from Yale University and has taught at the University of New Hampshire, Emory University, and the University of Minnesota. |