Petrarch Research Articles

Negative attitude towards a doctor in society at the beginning of the formation of medicine as a cultural complex

The article examines examples of negative attitudes towards a doctor from literary sources: the invectives of Francesco Petrarch of the XIV century (artistic, documentary, historical and memoir genres of literature) and the play by Jean-Baptiste Moliere “Imaginary Patient” of the XVII century (artistic genre of literature). The main attention is paid to the content of the patient's claim to the doctor: what the authors accuse the doctor of, what they see his flaws in. The patient's negative attitude towards the doctor is expressed in such manifestations as the accusation of ignorance hidden by useless beautiful speeches, the accusation of ostentatious actions, ridiculous prescriptions, conscious, harmful lies, inconsistency and empty promises, greed and the pursuit of profit, obsequiousness, flattery and sycophancy, hypocrisy, the demand for complete submission, the desire to earn money in the first place. In addition, the article attempts to find objective reasons, to see the cultural and historical conditionality of such a patient's attitude to the doctor. As a result of the analysis and comparison of the accusations in the two sources, the author of the article notes that, if there is a difference in the tone of the appeal to the reader, many of the accusations of the two authors are strikingly identical despite the fact that they are separated by three centuries. The author concludes that these accusations are a reflection of those arosing at the very beginning of the formation of medicine as a cultural complex in the relationship problems between the patient and the doctor, which we can observe at the present time. Further investigation of these problems will allow us to trace in more detail the history of the genesis of the doctor-patient relationship, which can serve as an explanation for many ethical problems in modern medicine.

THE FIRST ENGLISH SONNET AND ITS PARODIC ESSENCE

The article is devoted to the consideration of questions about which sonnet was the first example of a national genre form in English poetry, and about the relationship between its text and previous traditions and specific monuments. The research material was a fragment of the chivalric romance “Amoryus and Cleopes” by John Metham. Topicality of the study is due to the lack of knowledge of this text. The form of graphic organisation of the selected fragment is analysed against the background of comparisons with various ways of setting up classical Italian sonnets, then the meaningful motifs and the integral plot of the fragment are correlated with the content of Francesco Petrarch’s book “De remediis utriusque fortunae” and in more detail with the plot of Geoffrey Chaucer’s early poem “The Book of the Duchess”. The general A.M. Severinus Boethius’s theme of the Wheel of Fortune is noted, and the movement of the plot in Chaucer and Metham and both figures of their complaining knights, as well as the causes of their suffering, are assessed. In the process of analysis, it is possible to establish that a fragment of the novel, designed by the author on the model of Italian sonnets, yet containing an original rhyme scheme, which will become known as the rhyme of an English sonnet, exhibits a parodic character in relation to the texts of Petrarch and Chaucer.

Exploration of the Self in a Religious-Ethical Context from Late Antiquity through the Early Renaissance: St. Augustine, Boethius, and Petrarch - Past Ideas for our Future

There are many efforts to defend the Humanities against countless attacks by university administrators, the public, and, implicitly, even by students. In light of those problems, this article returns to three of the most important intellectuals in the history of western culture, St. Augustine, Boethius, and Francesco Petrarch, examining their respective fundamental dialogic narratives in which they probed their own self and discovered answers to the most critical questions in life. This paper suggests that we can profoundly promote the Humanities by returning to the bedrock of our discipline established by these three authors whose concepts about the self and its relationship with the transcendental being (the divine, Summum bonum, etc.) continue to offer central perspective also for the twenty-first century.

PETRARCH IN THE ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF OSIP MANDELSTAM: TRANSLATION STRATEGIES AND DECIPHERING BIOGRAPHICAL SUBTEXTS

Osip Mandelstam translates Francesco Petrarch’s sonnets between December 1933 and January 1934. We consider the reason for the poet’s addressing these sonnets, their place of in his own poetry and the specific features of Mandelstam’s translation. The Russian texts are close to the original in terms of syntax and rhythm, however, lexically, Mandelstam introduces into the text images close to his own poetics. Petrarch wrote sonnets dedicated to Laura during the formation of the literary Italian language: the language that he uses is a kind of interlinguistic substance, a search for a path from archaism to novelty. For the modern reader, this language is not just archaic, it gives the impression of a kind of tonguetied language, attempts to create words for a poetic work in a situation where words are not enough. Accordingly, Mandelstam compensates for this linguistic effect by including in the text the author’s neologisms. An analysis of the four sonnets that Mandelstam chose for translation shows that the translator’s vocabulary goes back to his own creative images. Mandelstam, as it were, appropriates these sonnets, makes them his own in the literal sense of the word, and it is not by chance that though he designates them as translations, he nevertheless publishes them among his poems.

Walka z czarną śmiercią w świetle wybranych pism i traktatów z XIV w.

Combatting the Black Death in the light of selected writings and treatises from the XIVth century This article analyzes texts that show attempts to resist the plague epidemic in Europe in the second half of the XIVth century. Much information on this subject has survived in writings by Italian authors, including Giovanni Boccaccio, Matteo Villani, and Francesco Petrarch. In Italian cities, the sickness led to demographic disaster, permanently changing the social order and the daily life of their inhabitants. Using the above mentioned texts, the author reflects on the triumphal march of the plague, searching for answers to the question as to the extent to which contemporary doctors were responsible for the state of affairs. When they encountered the first attack of the plague, they were helpless, not possessing either appropriate knowledge of medicines. Authors of chronicles noted that when examining the sick, doctors only took simple steps such as measuring temperature and analyzing body fluids, and the drew on philosophy and astrology when doing so. Sharper and sharper criticism fell on their heads as a result, and accusations not just of ignorance but also of cowardice. This was because many medical persons fled from territories affected by plague. Francesco Petrarch was one of the fiercest critics of doctors at this time. In the course of the epidemic, he lost Laura, the love of his life, and his beloved son. Petrarch wrote of the plague and the death that accompanied it in several tracts and poetic pieces. In those, he showed the fear and terror that haunted people when the world they had hitherto known lay in ruins.

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The article is devoted to the connection of the famous English poet, prose writer and preacher John Donne�s (1572�1631) works with the Petrarchan discourse of the European literature. The purpose of the investigation is to reveal and interpret the elements of Petrarchism in spiritual lyrics of the author on the basis of systematic approach with the use of the genealogical and comparative typological methods. The most prominent cases of the traditional Petrarchan themes, motives and images usage in John Donne�s religious texts and the specifity of their functioning have been examined in this article. Our attention has been paid to the genetic interconnection between the courtly rhetoric, which had been inherited by Francesco Petrarch and his numerous followers from the Provencal troubadours, and the traditions of the European mysticism that causes the harmony of the Petrarchan interpretive contexts according to the spiritual lyrics of the writer. Already in his earliest works, in particular in the book �Songs and Sonnets�, John Donne did not avoid mixing the sacred and the profane, quite intensively using religious images and motifs in love poetry. But his Petrarchism is most notable in his �Holly Sonnets�. The poetry of this cycle is not about God at all, but about the author himself in his relationship with Lord. In these sonnets the writer describes his feelings for God in almost the same way as Francesco Petrarch described his love for Laura. In general, if we talk about Petrarchism in relation to the spiritual lyrics of John Donne, it should be noted that for the writer it was not only a convenient source of the �ready� artistic images, motifs or means of expression but a kind of a perfect artistic technique for expressing secret, deeply personal thoughts and emotions. The conclusion has been done that such typically Petrarchan ideas such as: the dedicated service to the object of feelings, slavish adoration, obedience and dependence on its inconstant wishes John Donne has managed to adapt to the special needs of the sacred genres in such a way that his texts look surprisingly attractive, interesting and clear to different readers. Despite his worldwide fame John Donne is still one of the least researched literary figures in Ukrainian science. The article is directed to study only one of many aspects of his many-sided artistic heritage which needs the comprehensive professional analysis of the literary theorists and historians. So this article can be used for the further investigation of the problems, connected with the Petrarchan discourse generally in English literature and particularly in John Donne�s works and the scientific results proposed in it can be used in writing course works, graduation works and thesis on the related themes.

ГРАВЮРА "ТРИУМФ БОГОМАТЕРИ" В ПАРИЖСКОМ ЧАСОСЛОВЕ ЖОФФРУА ТОРИ 1531 Г.: ЯЗЫЧЕСКОЕ ШЕСТВИЕ ИЛИ ХРИСТИАНСКИЙ ПАНЕГИРИК?

The article focuses on the engraving “The Triumph of Our Lady” from the Book of Hours by Geoffroy Tory, 1531, kept in the collection of the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg. That woodcut precedes the Hours of the Virgin Mary section, and complements the main row of images, most of which are related to the Mariological theme. An attempt is made to study possible sources for the rare iconography. Both Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The dream of Poliphilus) by Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1499 and The Triumphs (I Trionfi) of Francesco Petrarch are considered. The author also takes into account the printed products of Tory himself, such as: “Champ fleury” (Flowery fields), 1529, Triumphal Entry of Eleanor of Austria, 1531. The iconography of the engraving displays the elaborately developed in Italian painting and drawing scheme of Roman triumphs of emperors and pagan gods. It also includes the visual impressions of theatrical and religious ceremonies, solemn entrances that Tory could witness. But those patterns were transformed and given a new Christian subject matter related to the glorification of the Virgin Mary. That corresponded to both the type of a prayer book (BVM) and the section the engraving preceded.

Cicero’s corpus and Petrarch’s ankle. The theory of imitation and its practices

This article focuses on the centrality provided to auctores and texts as corpora, in the framework of Francesco Petrarch and the theory of imitation by the humanists. Initially, animal images from Petrarch and the humanists are analysed, as well as the paths of their diffusion. These were used to express the role of the model, the involvement of the writer, variatio, the election of stilus, and the questions sustained by Ciceronianism. Then, tree main methodological ways to study the relationship between texts as corpora are presented: semiosphere, intertextuality, and reception theory. A critic view point regards static methodologies. Conclusively, the dialogue between Petrarch and Cicero, as text and corpus, is recalled in order to incorporate the auctores contamination.

Medieval and Renaissance Philosophers on Education

Philosophical understanding of education is a logical continuation of philosophical interpretation of the world and human beings in it. Therefore, it is not surprising that such an important social sphere has attracted attention of philosophers for centuries. Even a cursory glance at their concepts reveals that they have touched upon most issues that are still relevant today. The paper attempts to briefly describe the educational ideas of Titus Flavius Clemens, Origen, Saint Augustine, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, Francesco Petrarch, Vittorino de Feltre, Michel de Montaigne, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas More, Tommaso Campanella. The authors used hermeneutical, cultural-historical, and integrative approaches.

Slow Practice as Ethical Aesthetics: The Ecocritical Strategy of Patience

How can cultural works from the distant past –such as the Middle Ages—teach us ethical modes of behavior for today? One form of ecopoetics emerges through slow practice, making the reader collaborate in the measured process of co-creating the emotional impact of an imaginative text. Drawing on rich debates about slow cinema, this essay suggests how Chaucer’s The Clerk’s Tale—from his grand fourteenth-century poem, The Canterbury Tales—evokes a slow eco-aesthetics with ethical impact. The relative slowness of walking shapes how individuals respond to their environment. In turn, a deceleration of perception affects how travel comes to be written about, as seen in the tale of Patient Griselda. Introduced by Giovanni Boccaccio and adapted by such writers as Francesco Petrarch, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Christine de Pizan, she acts dynamically through her apparent silence and notorious patience. The environmental humanities offer paradigms for us to consider the strategies of slowness and patience. This essay shows how medieval pilgrimage literature evokes a slow aesthetic which is at the same time an ecocritical strategy. Slowness results in an enduring impact and heightened sensitivity to the ecological damage for which we all are culpable. Slower somatically inculcates key aspects of environmental awareness. Pilgrimage texts from the Middle Ages teach us slow ethical aesthetics, suggesting that the medieval moment—finally and a long time coming— is now.

Canzoniere Francesco Petrarch in a new translation by Vladimir Maransman

The review presents a new book by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education Vladimir Georgievich Maransman — a translation from Italian of the Book of Songs (Canzoniere) by Francesco Petrarch. This translation is a real event in the history of modern Russian culture, since it turned out to be one of the first full translations into Russian of the main book of the great Italian poet of the Renaissance, the first lyric poet in the history of European poetry — Petrarch, made by one translator. The translation was carried out taking into account the long tradition of Russian translations of Petrarch poetry and has a significant amount of author's text (poet's property). The translation uses the original method of V. G. Marantsman, already used in his previous work — the full translation of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, and which has been recognized by many readers and critics; a method of conveying the stylistic features of Italian poetry of the era of its occurrence by similar means of the Russian language.

Making Sense of Form: The Semantic Implications of Structure in Petrarch's Double Sestina

This article demonstrates how interpretation of the narrative arc of Francesco Petrarch’s Rvf governs readings of his double sestina, “Mia benigna fortuna e ’l viver lieto” (Rvf 332). Such readings have cast the poem as a simple self-negating lament, inducing scholars to skim over contradictions in the poem that, when examined closely, reveal radically different sentiments. The article examines how the form of the double sestina, as a trope, combines many of Petrarch’s key concerns, such as happiness, death, and poetic achievement and it concludes that the semantic import of the verse form contributes to a positive and a self-affirming evaluation of Petrarch’s own poetry.

Foreign Affairs and Diplomatic Practices of the Florentine Republic at the Boundary of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: Institutional Discourse (Problems of Historical and Modern Communication)

The article analyzes the theoretical foundations and tasks of historical communicology, communication problems in historical literature. The main attention is paid to the clarification of the communicative culture and culture of communication in Europe of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The features of communication processes, institutional and diplomatic practices in the European Reformation are considered. At the turn of the Middle Ages and early Modern Times there is an objective process driven by the launch of the institutional design of foreign policy and diplomatic services of the leading countries in Europe. Accordingly, there is the relationship between the original concepts and priorities: «Europe», «foreign policy», «diplomacy», «communication» and so on. To that issues related to contemporary and evaluation for various state-legal forms and types of government, institutional political processes, characteristics of reality and ideals create tasks and in covering practice power models diplomacy, diplomacy institutions, humanistic traditions of diplomatic tools and more. The objective of this research is to analyze the foreign policy, political and diplomatic experience of Europe both as an outstanding historical occasion for the political, diplomatic and institutional development of Europe and as the formation of its system of international relations in the Middle Ages and early Modern Times. Particular attention is paid to the institutional development of communication, diplomatic tools, negotiations, protocol standards, etiquette and ceremonial of the key European countries. The article describes the diplomatic activities Florentine diplomats and, in particular – Bonaccorso Pitti, the diplomat, the politician, the merchant, the traveler, the gambler, the author of the Chronicle. The author of article concludes that B. Pitti, as a diplomat, had an understanding of the international political situation and solved difficult of diplomatic questions due to personal qualities, culture, knowledge of languages, customs. It was the Pittis stratum‖ that absorbed Francesco Petrarch's new ideas about man and society and filled them with strength and practices that helped humanists formulate the ethics of the new time (humanistic diplomacy). The article studies the peculiarities of organizing diplomatic missions in the Middle Ages by one of the most dynamically developing city-states of Tuscany – Florence. Behavioral practices and ritual gestures of Florentine diplomats are revealed through personal perception of their diplomatic missions, of communication links, as presented in the chronicle narrative and the biographies.

Res publica restituta? Perceiving emperors in fourteenth-century Rome

Three emperors were crowned in Rome, while the pope was residing in Avignon: Henry VII (1312), Louis IV (1328) and Charles IV (1355). This contribution suggests that these emperors did not simply enter into an insurmountable “conflict of Empire and city-state”. Many Italians perceived the transalpine rulers as carriers of justice and order. Instead of criticizing the idea of empire, fourteenth-century (proto-)humanists reinforced the imperial myth by applying a classical language to discuss the contemporary Holy Roman Emperors. With their imperial histories, authors such as Albertino Mussato and Ferreto de’ Ferreti wanted to imitate the ancients. As a consequence, they focused on the triumphal aspects of the imperial coronations. Not the coronation in Saint Peter’s Basilica but the adventus into the city and the interaction with the SPQR drew special interest. Because of the papal absence, Henry VII and the excommunicated Louis the Bavarian could indeed act independently in the Eternal City. They both gathered assemblies with the SPQR on the Capitoline Hill. Charles IV, however, kept his promise to the pope and stayed only one day in Rome for his coronation in 1355. The letters of Francesco Petrarch and Niccolo Beccari nevertheless provided him with a classical discourse that could have supported his claims of independence vis-a-vis the pope. The Holy Roman Emperors were presented as the restorers of the res publica. It seems that the imperial presence in a popeless Rome increased the awareness of (and interest in) the city’s ancient past.

Image of doctor of Italy in the XIV century through the eyes of a contemporary (based on the example of “Invectives against a doctor” by Francesco Petrarch)

This article presents an attempt to reconstruct the image of doctor and the state of medicine in Italy in the XIV century. The work has an interdisciplinary character, is based on the traditions of the social and cultural history of medicine. The main source is Francesco Petrarch’s essay “Invectives against a doctor” (the mid-XIV century). The study of the main source, which is a subjective reflection of the processes and phenomena of that time, is supplemented by a careful study of the cultural and historical component, the picture of the world at that time. The author concludes that Petrarch, a representative of the Renaissance worldview, uses medieval methods of appealing to authorities. In order to create a voluminous reconstruction, it becomes necessary to study the medieval worldview (Le Goff J., Truon N.). Significant attention is paid to the disclosure of such issues as the place of a symbol, hierarchy, words in the culture of that time. Such components of the picture of the world as corporatism, attitude to virtue and sin, manual labor, authorities, science, art and medicine are involved. Negative components of the image of doctor and medicine of Italy in the XIV century, as evidenced by Petrarch, are supplemented with an alleged positive or ideal component, which results in a volumetric characteristic of the issue.

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In early 2019, the media reported on the initiative of Russian deputies to investigate the negative influence of fairy tales upon children. The dispute was accompanied by proposals to ban Russian folk tales, because the characters are often rewarded not for hard work, but for their moral qualities; for this reason Ivan the Fool, Emelya and other heroes came under criticism. Foreign fairy tales did not escape suspicion of raising infantilism and irresponsibility among young people either. Although the dispute, having reached the highest degree of intensity, seems to be dwindling, the issue of benefits of reading fairy tales still remains relevant. The purpose of the article is to study the plot features and character functions in the fairy tale “Cinderella”. The author discusses the semantics of the magical attributes that help Cinderella. These magical elements indicate the presence of hidden mythological concepts dating back to Prehistoric times. The article focuses on several versions of the tale beginning with the earliest written version, the legend of the Egyptian Cinderella, known from the works of ancient Greek historians. Also presented in this paper are the formation origins and typological features of “Cinderella” whose antique plot has been preserved over centuries in folklore sources. These sources were recorded and compiled into the first literary collection “The Tale of Fairy Tales” by the Neapolitan poet and writer D. Basile (1566–1632). The 50 stories continued the development of the Italian literary language that was first established by the older generation of humanists: Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) and Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374). “Cinderella” spread not only in France and Germany, but also in Russia thanks to S. Perrot and the Brothers Grimm. Among the various interpretations of the tale, the most interesting for the author are fairy tale films created in the USSR and Czechoslovakia. These are “Cinderella” (directed by N. Kosheverova and M. Shapiro, 1947), and “Three Nuts for Cinderella” (directed by V. Vorlichek, 1973). The author concludes that “Cinderella” is an example of a story where the experience of previous generations is coded to be passed on to new ones. This story tells the reader about Good and Evil, and about the customs and traditions of their ancestors. As a cultural form, “Cinderella” has a logically ordered structure with interconnected elements. It contains such concepts as the value of labour, motherhood, the unity of culture, respect for seniors, and the punishment of evil and of ignorance. Integrated in the mental field of culture, these values help to create and maintain the conditions necessary for the well-being human society.

Milton’s Italy: Anglo-Italian Literature, Travel, and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. Catherine Gimelli Martin. New York: Routledge, 2017. Pp. xv+318.

<i>Milton’s Italy: Anglo-Italian Literature, Travel, and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England</i>. Catherine Gimelli Martin. New York: Routledge, 2017. Pp. xv+318.

A tribune named Niccolò: Petrarchan revolutionaries and humanist failures in Machiavelli’s Florentine Histories

ABSTRACTGiven Machiavelli’s fascination with ancient Rome’s plebeian tribunate, it is not surprising that he would take an interest in Cola di Rienzo, the Roman who declared himself Tribune of the Plebs in 1347. However, Cola appears just once in Machiavelli’s corpus, in a single short and enigmatic chapter in the Florentine Histories. This paper argues that Machiavelli nevertheless quietly elaborates on Cola’s legacy later in his Histories, when he introduces Stefano Porcari, another ‘Roman citizen’ whose reform efforts fail catastrophically. Though Machiavelli never explicitly criticizes Cola, he does blame Porcari for exercising poor judgement. This blame, importantly, is entwined with Machiavelli’s allusions to the humanist writings of Francesco Petrarch. By placing these accounts of Cola and Porcari side by side, this paper aims to reveal the Florentine Histories’ complicated relationship with Petrarch, Italy’s most famous humanist. The web of cross-references among Cola, Porcari and Machiavelli himself indicates the latter’s vexation with the sort of rhetorical idealism that Petrarch’s famous endorsement of Cola’s revolution came to represent.

Il Dante di De Sanctis è ancora attuale

My aim is to show the contemporary relevance of the work of Francesco De Sanctis, which has been intensively researched, but is now relegated to our past. However, his Dante, in contrast with his Petrarch, has timeless ethical, ideological and political qualities, while his Petrarch is still a negative example of the past and present defects of Italian. De Sanctis is still relevant in the sense that, with Dante, he favours a culture and language for ordinary people, an antidote to the diglossic situation of a ‘high’ language not only in the Renaissance but also that of the avant-garde and the technicalities of critical language. Last, but not least, the human example represented by Dante is a stronghold against the spread of what the Anglo-Polish anthropologist Bauman calls the man of “liquid modernity”.

Discourses of Mourning in Dante, Petrarch, and Proust. By Jennifer Rushworth.

Discourses of Mourning in Dante, Petrarch, and Proust. By Jennifer Rushworth.