The Poem sequence before early modern eyes: Printing conventions and notions of the genre, Italy, 1450-1650

Danijela Kambasković-Schwartz

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

    Abstract

    An examination of incunabula and early printed editions of Petrarch's manuscript of his poem sequence, Il Canzoniere, reveals an increasing dependence on critical apparatus that privileged individual sonnets over a continuous mode of reading. A long history of layouts prioritising exegesis may have distorted our understanding of the way the genre of the poem sequence was written, read, and understood in premodern Europe. Today's critical editions of poem/sonnet sequences, in both Italian and English traditions, continue to privilege individual poems and marginalise the consecutive, narrative reading mode encouraged by the form of Petrarch's holograph manuscript of Il Canzoniere. An examination of the printing practices employed in Italian books printed between 1450 and 1650 suggests that poem sequences were visually represented as integral and narrative works closely related to other narrative genres depicting love in the first person, and this, in turn, suggests that contemporary notions of the poem sequence genre were thematic, not formal.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)113-130
    Number of pages18
    JournalPARERGON
    Volume33
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

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    genre
    Italy
    narrative
    edition
    exegesis
    examination
    layout
    privilege
    love
    human being
    history
    Poem
    Manuscripts
    Canzoniere

    Cite this

    Kambasković-Schwartz, Danijela. / The Poem sequence before early modern eyes: Printing conventions and notions of the genre, Italy, 1450-1650. In: PARERGON. 2016 ; Vol. 33, No. 1. pp. 113-130.
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    abstract = "An examination of incunabula and early printed editions of Petrarch's manuscript of his poem sequence, Il Canzoniere, reveals an increasing dependence on critical apparatus that privileged individual sonnets over a continuous mode of reading. A long history of layouts prioritising exegesis may have distorted our understanding of the way the genre of the poem sequence was written, read, and understood in premodern Europe. Today's critical editions of poem/sonnet sequences, in both Italian and English traditions, continue to privilege individual poems and marginalise the consecutive, narrative reading mode encouraged by the form of Petrarch's holograph manuscript of Il Canzoniere. An examination of the printing practices employed in Italian books printed between 1450 and 1650 suggests that poem sequences were visually represented as integral and narrative works closely related to other narrative genres depicting love in the first person, and this, in turn, suggests that contemporary notions of the poem sequence genre were thematic, not formal.",
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    Kambasković-Schwartz, D 2016, 'The Poem sequence before early modern eyes: Printing conventions and notions of the genre, Italy, 1450-1650' PARERGON, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 113-130.

    The Poem sequence before early modern eyes: Printing conventions and notions of the genre, Italy, 1450-1650. / Kambasković-Schwartz, Danijela.

    In: PARERGON, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2016, p. 113-130.

    Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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    AB - An examination of incunabula and early printed editions of Petrarch's manuscript of his poem sequence, Il Canzoniere, reveals an increasing dependence on critical apparatus that privileged individual sonnets over a continuous mode of reading. A long history of layouts prioritising exegesis may have distorted our understanding of the way the genre of the poem sequence was written, read, and understood in premodern Europe. Today's critical editions of poem/sonnet sequences, in both Italian and English traditions, continue to privilege individual poems and marginalise the consecutive, narrative reading mode encouraged by the form of Petrarch's holograph manuscript of Il Canzoniere. An examination of the printing practices employed in Italian books printed between 1450 and 1650 suggests that poem sequences were visually represented as integral and narrative works closely related to other narrative genres depicting love in the first person, and this, in turn, suggests that contemporary notions of the poem sequence genre were thematic, not formal.

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    Kambasković-Schwartz D. The Poem sequence before early modern eyes: Printing conventions and notions of the genre, Italy, 1450-1650. PARERGON. 2016;33(1):113-130.