Interpretations of Renaissance Humanism

Mazzocco (Italian and Spanish emeritus, Mount Holyoke College) and his contributors of these 13 articles and introduction examine the causes, connections to the papal court and medieval learning, religious and literary dimensions and key players in the humanist movement in the Renaissance. Using various means of critical inquiry, they cover Kristeller's humanists as heirs of the medieval dictatores, the origins of humanism, humanism in terms of ancient learning and criticism in schools and universities, curial humanism as seen through the papal library, the influence of the medieval encyclopedic tradition, an historical definition of humanism and scholasticism, religion and the modernity of Renaissance humanism, Christian humanism, the role of rhetoric, and literary humanism. The remaining articles focus on aspects of Petrarch, Poliziano, Manuzio, Gaza, George of Trebizond, and Marcello Adriani. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Angelo Mazzocco, Ph.D. (1973) in Romance Languages and Literatures, University of California, Berkeley is Professor emeritus of Italian and Spanish at Mount Holyoke College. He has published extensively on antiquarianism, historical linguistics, Dante, and Renaissance humanism including Linguistic Theories in Dante and the Humanists (Brill, 1993).