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No description available.

One of Ariosto’s signature narrative features in the Orlando furioso is the use of personae—such as the Inkeeper in Canto 28—to tell stories. These narrator stand-ins allow for Ariosto to displace unsavory perspectives via narrative ventriloquism, where the teller is condemned while the scandalous tale is still allowed to be told. This paper explores how English translators have adapted Ariosto’s use of narrative personae in their translations of the Orlando furioso, exploiting these voices in their translations for sociopolitical ends. In some instances, Ariosto himself becomes a ventriloquized presence in the translations, a source author persona who voices the translator’s projected misogynistic or salacious content.

No description available.

No description available.

Review of Selene Scarsi . Translating Women in Early Modern England: Gender in the Elizabethan Versions of Boiardo, Ariosto and Tasso. Anglo-Italian Renaissance Studies Series. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2010. x + 207 pp. index. bibl. $99.95. ISBN: 978–0–7546–6620–2.

Review of Jo Ann Cavallo. The World Beyond Europe in the Romance Epics of Boiardo and Ariosto. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013. xi + 378 pp. $85. ISBN: 978-1-4426-4683-4.

This degree project aims to examine how the representation of migrants in Italian media differs according to their nationality. The new migration from Ukraine raised the problem of their different representations; a difference that existed before but now the media classification of migrants in first- and second-class is more evident and frequent. I engaged in a comparative content analysis of Italy’s state online journal that examines both the representation of migrants from Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa and Southern Asia arriving through the Mediterranean routes and that of Ukrainian migrants. Through the notions of representation of otherness (the other as a foreigner to strengthen our identity) and of voice as a process (claiming the importance for the disadvantaged to express their needs), the representation of the two groups will be analysed. Critically, this analysis will find that according to the media perception, migrants arriving through the Mediterranean routes are viewed as outcasts and their voice is also underrepresented compared to migrants from Ukraine.

My dissertation is a study of how merchants in Trecento Italy used the imagery they commissioned as a form of moral self-representation and as a practical tool in their pursuit of eternal life in heaven. The study is grounded in the theoretical framework of Michael Baxandall’s concept of the “period eye,” that is, the belief that “social facts lead to the development of distinctive visual skills and habits.” (Baxandall, 1988) A primary social fact affecting medieval merchants was their long association in Christian culture with the individual and societal evils related to the pursuit of money and wealth—the sin of avarice. This linkage was expressed across the entire range of medieval cultural expression, in texts, sermons, and imagery. The challenge for merchants, therefore, was to publicly demonstrate that they earned their money ethically and legally, that they led a morally sound life, and that they used a portion of their money for the common good, especially in caring for the poor. The commissioning and public/semi-public display of imagery thus became a way of portraying a merchant’s moral identity as a worthy civic and Christian citizen, with all of the temporal and spiritual benefits that might produce. In order to better understand how such imagery served these objectives, I have developed an analytical framework I call the Merchant’s Moral Eye. This framework consists of eight primary dimensions that I believe were fundamental to the formation of merchants’ moral beliefs and behaviours during this period. These dimensions are: 1. Purgatory 2. Medieval Spaces 3. Christian Symbolism 4. Obligation & Reciprocity 5. The Virtues & Vices 6. Fama 7. Hospitality 8. Coats of Arms Collectively, these interlaced, multidisciplinary dimensions provide a systematic approach to produce the robust contextualisation needed to explore why, and how, merchants used imagery to achieve their objectives. However, while this study’s focus is solely on the moral and salvific functions of this imagery, it needs to be remembered that the same imagery also served other more worldly objectives, be they social, economic, or political. As an analytical tool this framework enables three fundamental functions with respect to the underlying motives, meanings, and uses of merchant-commissioned art in Trecento Italy: - an assessment of the feasibility of existing interpretations - the enhancement or nuancing of existing interpretations - the identification and explication of wholly new interpretations To demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework in achieving the above, I have selected, as case studies, three merchants in three different locations, whose artistic commissions spanned the entire Trecento. These individuals and their imaged artifacts are: 1. Enrico Scrovegni of Padua and the Arena Chapel, decorated by Giotto 1303-5. 2. Domenico Lenzi of Florence and his illuminated manuscript, Lo Specchio umano (The Mirror of Humanity), produced c. 1340; 3. Francesco Datini of Prato and the Palazzo Datini, decorated in the 1390s. These individuals represent a cross-section of Trecento Italian merchants in terms of status, wealth, and public profile. These merchants and their commissioned artworks are discussed in detail using the framework dimensions as modes of enquiry to show how this imagery supported their self-representation as honest merchants and dutiful Christians, and generated the prayers and other suffrages they assumed they needed to eventually get to Heaven. In all three case studies there were significant findings that fulfilled each of the analytical functions noted above, thereby confirming the utility of the Merchant’s Moral Eye Analytical Framework as an effective methodological approach. / Graduate / 2022-05-27

"Italian Identity"is the set of values and beliefs performed daily, that are markers of what it is to be "Italian,"whether those carrying those beliefs live in Italy or not. The latter point became evident in the United States following the vast wave of Italian immigration during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Italian identity has been greatly influenced by Catholicism and its centering of values and beliefs on the family, heavily defined Italian life in America. One principal mode for constructing and disseminating these values and beliefs among Italian Americans was through the theatre. This thesis provides a close reading of two plays, Gemini (1976) and A View from the Bridge (1955) to demonstrate how, well into the twentieth century, theatre continued both to reflect and reify an Italian identity among Italian Americans. The discussion will focus on Italian Identity in terms of gender roles and expectations, Godfatherhood, and the twin values of Honor and Respect.