Ariosto Today: Contemporary Perspectives ed. by Donald Beecher, Massimo Ciavolella, and Roberto Fedi (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 185 evidence that Boleslav was crowned king at any point during the visit and refuses , in his interpretation of this rare visit (the emperor leaving the limits of his direct authority), to go further than acknowledging the magnificence of his reception in Gniezno. The last of the chapters describing the events during the reign of Otto discusses three different points: the secret visit of Otto to Venice in 1001, the conflict over the nunnery of Gandersheim between the bishop of Hildesheim and the archbishop of Mainz, and the revolt in Rome in 1002, which led to the emperor ’s departure from the city. Some months later Otto III died in northern Italy. Regarding the first point, Althoff sees nothing innovative in the incognito appearance of Otto in the city of St. Mark: it was out of practical considerations that he did his best to be able to negotiate (over what, remains unclear) with the Venetian doge. The Gandersheim conflict, which involved all the Saxon clergy and Pope Sylvester II, mostly proves to what a degree the emperor had his authority limited by canon law and by the obstinacy of the higher clergy. Finally, the examination of the events in Rome in 1002 leads Althoff to conclude that the Romans had no intention of making the emperor permanently leave the city. In his introduction, Althoff defends himself against the accusation that he has written a biography without a subject. Though in many ways such an accusation makes sense, since we do not find any tangible evidence about the personality of Otto III, this will not be seen as a failure. This short study, now available in English, deserves special attention by students of medieval history because of the essential message that it brings: even if it is real people that make the history, this does not mean that history can necessarily give exhaustive accounts of real people’s deeds. Instead of constructing hypothetical paradigms which would misleadingly make the central Middle Ages look more easily comprehensible for the modern reader, Althoff limits his research to those perspectives which are immediately accessible: the study of ritual behavior as the perceptible expression of political thought, of social networks as the explanation of the nature and development of political conflicts, and of the immediate goals pursued by the royal/imperial authorities as substantial evidence about how power was perceived in the first place. BORIS TODOROV, History, UCLA Ariosto Today: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. Donald Beecher, Massimo Ciavolella, and Roberto Fedi (Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press 2003) xi + 233 pp. Ariosto Today is a collection of essays on Ludovico Ariosto’s work directed towards a rediscovery of his importance. The editors open the book with a delightful introduction that reminds us who Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533) was and explains the substance of the volume: different approaches, both traditional and innovative, to studying Ariosto that are united by being new, contemporary perspectives. Dennis Looney, in “Ariosto and the Classic in Ferrara,” gives an extraordinary synthesis of the humanistic culture of Ferrara’s court, and focuses on the study of the classics, important to a complete understanding of Ariosto’s artistic production. Antonio Franceschetti, “The Orlando innamorato and the Genesis of the Furioso,” provides new insights into the relationship between Ariosto’s REVIEWS 186 Orlando Furioso and Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato. Alberto Casadei, “The History of the Furioso,” offers important and interesting historical and philological observations. Giorgio Masi, ‘‘The Nightingale in a Cage: Ariosto and the Este Court,” focuses on the presence of the Estes family in Ariosto’s production as both positive and negative reference points. Monica Farnetti, “Ariosto : Landscape Artist,” is more interested in poetic issues, and analyzes the role of landscapes in Orlando Furioso. Daniel Javitch, “The Advertising of Fictionality in Orlando Furioso,” focuses on important structural aspects of Ariosto’s poem. Elissa B. Weaver, “A Reading of the Interlaced Plot of the Orlando Furioso : The Three Cases of Love Madness,” directs her attention to another structural aspect of Ariosto’s poem: the entrelacement—the interlaced plot structure—and focuses on three specific episodes that are thematically, and linguistically structured in the same way. Roberto Fedi, “The Lyric Poetry of Ariosto,” deals...