Italian Trecento Research Articles

Linear perspective as aesthetic form

Background. The article provides a theoretical reconstruction of the linear perspective functioning as more than just an artistic technique that emerged and became an attribute of paintings starting with the Italian Trecento, in particular, in the works of Giotto. The purpose of the article is to reveal the heuristic potential of aesthetic form not in reflecting the consequences of the economic landscape transformation, but in anticipating its transformation and directing the efforts of the subject in its reorganization. The research's methodology is focused on the dynamics of cultural forms through the optics of art history and aesthetic theory, as well as on socio-historical reconstruction of the context without trying to prevent vulgar sociological reductionism and economic determinism. This approach reveals the relationship between the aesthetic text and the context, and the former's potential in clarifying the subtext by articulating the serial principle's aesthetic value and promoting the modern historical type of cultural production and consumption. Methods. This artistic guideline transformed not only the order of the signifiers of the painting (in particular, it replaced the golden background, which had been mostly filled with geometric shapes, humanized the illusory space, and saturated it with mathematically verified figures and objects) but also the order of signifies in the logic of the "picture of the world" (rehabilitation of sensory perception, declaration of the infallibility eye, autonomization of vision, dominance of pictorial space, compression of time to the moment of now, unification of the status of a separate thing in the general order, legitimization of holistic anti-metaphysical programs). Results. The article reveals the connection between the antimetaphysical program of linear perspective in the artistic dimension and the Cartesian homology of space in the theoretical dimension. It also emphasizes the architectonic principle of linear perspective: the rhythmicity of geometric shapes, a stable balance of nodal points, and dynamics of basic forms' reproductions and repetitions. Conclusions. Conducted research substantiates the understanding of linear perspective not as a method of legitimizing the correct vision of things, but as a representation of the valid order and scale of the world through a clear coordinate system, aimed at unification of the system of things and equivalent exchange within it.

Blick in ein Studierzimmer. Die Handschrift Urb. Lat. 1419

The manuscript Urb. Lat. 1419 is not one of the magnificent handwritings of the Italian Trecento such as the Codices Squarcialupi or Panciatichi, it is probably not even a “commodity” such as the Codex Rossi. Rather the diversity of its contents (sacred and secular two- and three-voice compositions of different provenance), its modest appearance as well as the sometimes rather clumsy handwriting allow us to assume that we are dealing with the “notes” of a music-interested studioso. This hypothesis would explain why the fascicle containing music was tied up with fascicles containing excerpts of writings about logic and jurisprudence on the one hand, and the widely fragmentary character of the musical notation on the other: there are a few sketches, whose meaning cannot be reconstructed at all, the sung text is incomplete, one composition suddenly breaks off and sometimes only one voice of an evidently polyphonic piece was written down. But the diversity of the manuscript clearly betrays a theoretical approach to the different compositional processes in the late 14th century.

The Valréas Book of Hours: Avignon, BM, ms. 1903

Acquired by the Musée Calvet in Avignon in 1893 from a convent in Valréas in the Énclave des papes, this little fragmentary manuscript has never been subject to any thorough study, although it was part of the exhibition Manuscrit à peintures in 1955, along with the Bellevillle Breviary and the treasures of the duc de Berry. In the 1970s, 40 leaves out of 52 were stolen, and the major part thus hidden from the public eye. Recently, these leaves have been rediscovered and restituted, and are hereby introduced to the academic discourse. With codicological and comparative stylistic methods, the manuscript’s opulent decoration is analysed, and its art historical position is established in relation to contemporary currents in gothic book illumination. No less than nine different artists can be distinguished, and identified, one of which executed a secondary portion around 1370, whereas the other eight artists were active in the first third of the fourteenth century. Every artist reoccurs in a number of other manuscripts, independently or in collaboration with each other in different constellations. They were all among the most renowned Parisian illuminators of their time, including the Papeleu master a.k.a. Richard de Verdun, Jean Pucelle, and Anciau de Sens. Moreover, through a reconstruction of its historical context with proposed royal commissioners, a clearer picture emerges of this particular book of hours as a conscious manifestation of artistic patronage. Iconographic giottoesque features also offers an incentive to reconsider the sources for the introduction of Italian trecento influence in French gothic book illumination. This manuscript contributes to the understanding of collaborative practises between workshops and individual artists under early Valois patronage, and provides an important addition to the corpus of gothic book illumination.

The non-Italian Ars Nova: how to read the madrigal Povero zappator by Lorenzo da Firenze

Abstract The label ‘Ars Nova’ is not easily applicable to Italian 14th-century music, since its main characteristics, such as isorhythm, diminution, pre-existing tenors, and so on, are practically absent, with a few exceptions, from Italian musical compositions, even Italian motets. Yet, isorhythm and diminution were used in the madrigal Povero zappator by Lorenzo da Firenze. What was the reason for using these devices just in this madrigal, whose poetic text about a lone sailor in a tempestuous sea at first glance seems to be a poem typical of Trecento madrigals? This article contends that this text, which so far has attracted little scholarly attention, is derived from Petrarch’s canzone Ne la stagion che ’l ciel rapido inchina. This provides not only a clue to understanding Lorenzo’s intentions, but, in a larger perspective, it also discloses the perception by Italian Trecento musicians of the musical thinking of their transalpine colleagues.

THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR CHARLES IV: MUSICAL AND LITERARY ASPECTS

The Italians had conflicting sentiments regarding the visit of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV in Italy in 1355: from the enthusiastic expectations of the impact the Emperor would have on the local political life to contemptuous scepticism and even to overt disdain. Two Italian Trecento madrigals have traditionally been considered to refer to this visit: (1) the three-voice polytextual madrigal Aquil altera/Creatura gentil/Uccel di Dio by Jacopo da Bologna, seen as related to Charles’s coronation with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan; and (2) the two-voice madrigal Sovran uccello by Donato da Firenze, considered a celebratory piece for Charles’s coronation as well. This essay explores the relevant historical contexts, Milanese for Jacopo’s madrigal and Florentine for Donato’s, with a view to placing both pieces.

“Mary has filled me with amazement that she gave milk to the One who feeds the multitudes”: Notes on the Byzantine Iconography of Maria Galaktotrophousa

The image of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ Child belongs to the most fascinating and yet least researched themes of Byzantine Marian iconography. In the past it has been assumed that the images of the Virgin Galaktotrophousa derived from the art of the Italian Duecento and Trecento in the post-Byzantine period. However, there is sufficient ground to assume that these images were known already in the Middle Byzantine period and were popular during the period of the Paleologian dynasty.

Italian Studies: Italian Duecento and Trecento ii (Excluding Dante)

Italian Studies: Italian Duecento and Trecento ii (Excluding Dante)

Madonna in trono col Bambino di Bernardo Daddi nella collezione Lanckoroński del castello di Wawel

Madonna and Child Enthroned in the Lanckoronski family collection in the Wawel castle (inv. No. 7908) along with the quarters with St. Bartholomew, St. Lawrence, St. Catherine and St. Cecilia that are preserved in other collections as well as with the panels that present the blessing Christ and the Evangelists used to be an essential part of a retable that can currently be found in various places across the world. The retable was made by Bernardo Daddi around 1340. It was intended to be a part of St. Bartholomew and St. Lawrence Chapel in the Carmelite church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. After being divided into parts around 1750, the panel had become a part of the Viennese collection of Karol Lanckoronski (1848-1933) by the end of 1903. In 1994, the collection, including the previously mentioned panel, was placed in the Wawel Royal Castle, where it is held today. The composition and the ideological content of the quarter are closely related to an earlier confraternal altar panel from the church of Santa Maria del Carmine that includes Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels as well as Christ Blessing between Two Angels placed at the top and originally separated with a frame. The altar panel, credited to Maestro della Sant’Agata (around 1270) is currently stored in the Brancacci chapel. The Wawel quarter is in line with Tuscan Madonnas that are defined in the iconography as the Regina Coeli or Maesta. A thorough analysis of ideological content presented on the Daddi panel based on source materials as well as an attempt to reconstruct the whole panel leads us to the conclusion that the retable made in Daddi’s workshop presented the vision of Heavenly Jerusalem, based on the Revelation to St. John. Through the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Angels panel the artist referred to the truth about the royal dignity of Mary and her participation in the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption whereas Christ Himself was presented as the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. Therefore, the patron saints of the chapel worship Him. A holistic view of the Wawel panel and the way it is connected with the art of Tuscany shows that it is the object that, in artistic and formal terms as well as in content, is one of the most valuable examples of Italian Trecento that can be found in Polish collections.

Portraying Monks in Illuminated Service Books in the Fourteenth Century

생드니교회를 위해 제작된 14세기 중엽 채색 미사전서에 나타난 베네딕틴 수도승의 초상화는 중세 말기에 유행하는 수도원 구성원의 초상적 표현으로 이해할 수 있다. 같은 시기의 다른 채색 미사전서 혹은 찬송전서에도 주교, 대주교, 수녀원장, 수도원장을 비롯한 수도원 혹은 카톨릭 교회의 주요인물들이 이름과 함께 혹은 가문의 문장과 재현되어 종교인물의 초상적 표현도 세속군주 혹은 귀족 후원자들과 더불어 유행하였다고 볼 수 있다. 왕족 혹은 귀족의 초상과 다른 점은 본인의 개성보다는 본인이 속한 수도원의 집단정체성을 중시하여 초상화가 들어간 전례서가 교회 혹은 수도원에 다시 기증되어 다른 구성원들이 여러 세대에 걸쳐 사용할 수도 있다는 점이 주목할 만하다. 이런 점에서 개인의 추모를 목적으로 한 개인용 기도서와는 성격이 조금 다르다고 볼 수 있다.BR 14세기 채색 전례서에 나타나는 이러한 초상적 인물화는, 15세기 미술계에 중요한 장르로 대두하는 사실적인 초상화에 나타나는 유일무이한 개인적 재현은 아직 나타나지 않았기에 “초상화”라는 장르에 대입할 수는 없지만 이름 혹은 문장 등의 다른 기재를 통해 개인화를 시도하였다는 점은 중요하다. 15-16세기에 유화 혹은 조각 등에 자주 나타나는 사실적인 초상화 장르의 유행으로 나아가는 도입적인 단계라고 해석할 수 있다.

Senza vestimenta: The Literary Tradition of Trecento Song.By Lauren McGuire Jennings

The musical legacy of the Italian Trecento has generated surprisingly few book-length studies beyond inventories, editions, and commentaries on manuscript sources. Although the monograph Senza vestimenta: The Literary Tradition of Trecento Song by the American scholar Lauren Jennings may also be regarded as a kind of inventory and commentary, it is conceptual as well. Jennings explains that the question that motivated her research was the applicability and cogency of the ‘commonly-used modern term poesia per musica (poetry for music)’, which became the hallmark of Trecento musicological studies. ‘By implying that song texts were born as unavoidable by-products of vocal polyphony, rather than as poetry in their own right, these two concepts [also the idea of the so-called “divorce” between music and poetry] have encouraged musicologists to focus more on the music than on the verbal texts and, simultaneously, discouraged the literary scholars from taking “musical” poems seriously as literature’ (pp. 6–7). She thus exchanges the term poesia per musica for ‘song texts’.

Ley y potestades eclesiásticas del Trecento: patrimonio visual y contexto jurídico en las Causas de un Decretum Gratiani catalán (British Library, Add. 15274-15275)

Some copies of the Decretum Gratiani were richly illustrated with miniatures that allow us to study the image given of ecclesiastical power. Throughout the 14th c. old and new issues were embodied in representations accompanying the Causes and other texts included in ancient compilations of canon law. The illustrations are a synthesis that leads us into a complex world of relationships and theories in which religious power is manifested and highlights the status conferred on popes, cardinals and bishops. In the adoption of a position the confrontation with other powers and social sectors is essential. The analysis of one of these luxury manuscripts (London, BL, ms. Add.15274-15275), linked to the workshop of Ferrer Bassa and Catalan art most implicated in the search of the Italian Trecento, is the main object of study of this article. Its narrative and its textual and figurative complexities must be located and understood in the time of the Avignon exile and the papacy of Pope Clement VI. It is a work of ...

I Fioretti de San Franceso como instrumentos de comunicação do Cristianismo no Trecentro Italiano: indícios de um contexto cultural

This article aiming to present a critical reading of the I Fioretti de San Francesco work, from unknown author, here seen as communication tool of Christianity and more especifically of the Franciscan Movement for the evangelization cause and, above all, as a mean of cultural representation (especially of the religiosity) of the italian Trecento, initial period of Renaissance, time which this work was produced and published. For this, fundamentally, the reading of I Fioretti is made in the confrontation with some important arguments used by Jacob Burckbardt in his analysis about the italian Renaissance. The central conclusion of this study is that I Fioretti, when rescue the Christian experience of Francesco and some of his more faithful following, even if not in a priority way, wants to evidence moral and cultural values defended by Church during the Medium Age and started be confronted since the Renaissance advent and its anticlerical humanistic vision.

"Flos campi et lilium convallium". Third Interpretation of the Lily in the Iconography of The Annunciation in Italian Trecento Art from Patristic and Theological Sources

This paper (which complements two previous works of our authorship) proposes to interpret the bouquet of lilies in medieval images of The Annunciation in two essentially intertwined dogmatic meanings, related to Christology and Mariology. Contradicting conventional “explanations” of such flower in this Marian scene, we found our proposal in many and consistent testimony of some prestigious Church Fathers and medieval theologians, glossing the biblical sentence Ego sum flos campi et lilium convallium. Such lyrical expression is seen by those authors as a clear metaphor that identifies Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and that, as such, also refers to Mary, in whose virginal womb the Son of God's incarnation is produced. Thus, based on the solid patristic and theological tradition on this biblical sentence, we dare to interpret the bouquet of lilies in paintings of the Annunciation (illustrated here by nine paintings of the Italian Trecento) as a double metaphor, which means both the supernatural human incarnation of God the Son and the virginal divine motherhood of Mary.

The Gothic style frescoes beneath the western gallery of the Church of Sântămărie-Orlea

The present study is intended to provide a fresh analysis of the Gothic murals in the currently Protestant church of Sântămărie-Orlea. Th e church and especially its precious frescoes have raised the interest of many scholars, both Hungarian and Romanian, but the poor state of conservation of the paintings allowed room for many different interpretations. A new reading of these frescoes is proposed here, based on a series of historic copies, until recently unknown, which provide the grounds to clear up some misinterpretations. Nevertheless, a certain degree of incertitude will remain for as long as these valuable paintings, dated around 1400, are not restored. The wall paintings are placed inside semi-circular frames formed beneath the vaults supporting the western gallery. Generally we can say that they represent saints important to the royal court. South of the entrance there is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, the first woman canonized from the Árpád Dynasty, who offered a new model of piety. North to the entrance there is a hardly interpretable mural with standing saints. The middle figure is supposedly representing one of the Three Holy Hungarian Kings. The scene placed on the northern wall, with the inscription OBIT PAUPER PAULUS, seems to be an original composition most probably connected with the Pauline order, very close to the royal court, whose important achievement was the transportation of the corpse of St. Paul of Thebes (the order’s protector) in 1381 to the monastery from the Buda hills. Th e determination of the style and of the time when this mural was painted is hampered by the actual state of conservation of the frescoes. There is no doubt that the mural is part of the International Gothic style fresco circle, with elements from Italian Trecento, dated around 1400. The restoration of the murals will surely bring out new information and even show completely new valences of the Transylvanian Art.

Gli studi sulla musica italiana del Trecento nel secolo XXI: qualche osservazione sui recenti orientamenti della ricerca.

Over the last few decades research on Italian Trecento music – monodic and polyphonic, secular, liturgical and devotional – has made new discoveries and formulated new interpretative hypotheses, thus succeeding in opening up new and significant horizons. Hitherto unknown fragments of musical evidence have been discovered and fresh critical analyses put forward, along with new evaluations of theoretical approaches; notation; mensuration; composition techniques; poetic and musical forms; the textual tradition; mnemonic techniques; and traditions blending orality and writing. In addition to this, both the older and more recent legacies of knowledge have undergone fresh examination. The outcome of such a wealth of scholarly activity has been very positive, despite the fact that some areas of research have been overlooked. In particular, a problem exists with regard to contextualization: in order to be adequately dealt with, up-to-date inter-disciplinary areas of competence are required.

:Altichiero: An Artist and His Patrons in the Italian Trecento

List of figures List of illustrations List of plates Note on sources Preface Introduction 1. Altichiero da Verona 2. The Sala Grande in Verona 3. The Cavalli Votive Fresco 4. The Sala Virorum Illustrium and the manuscripts of the De Viris Illustribus 5. The Cappela di S. Giacomo 6. The Oratori di S. Giorgio 7. Last works, followers and imitators Verona and elsewhere Catalogue Bibliography Index Plates.

The "Stella Altarpiece." Magnum Opus of the Cesi Master

An astonishing image of Christ and Mary wrapped in an amorous embrace as the sponsus/sponsa of the 'Song of Songs' is the central image of a major winged altarpiece attributed to the early 14th-century painter known as the Maestro di Cesi. Based on the motifs in the partially ruined fresco by Cimabue in the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi, until now it has been seen as derivative work, useful only in helping to recreate the more important fresco. Cleaned and restored and recently identified as having been painted for the Augustinian Monastero della Stella in Spoleto, the altarpiece now takes its place as a major work of the early Italian trecento, admirable for its precious technique and commendable for it iconographical innovations.

Altichiero: an artist and his patrons in the Italian trecento

Altichiero: an artist and his patrons in the Italian trecento

Chaucer to Spenser, An Anthology ed. by Derek Pearsall (review)

REVIEWS157 in important new light. That N. R. Havely's paper, 'Muses and Blacksmiths: Italian Trecento Poetics and the Reception of Dante in "The House of Fame,"' is less stimulating has perhaps to do with the nature of the material: Italian was not as vivid in England as Latin or French or English, evidently, and with Havely the issues remain Chaucer's Italian journeys and his personal absorption of Italian influence. Though less systematic, most evocative are the several essays that bring into the calculus non-literary English writings and non-verbal means of making meaning. In 'Women's Piety and Women's Power: Chaucer's Prioress Reconsidered,' Carol Meale uses bibliographical and documentary evidence ofthewomanly conventual cultures ofBarking Abbey and the priory ofSt. Leonards at Stratford at Bow to argue for different evaluations of the 'General Prologue' description of the Prioress and of her tale. In 'Looking for a Sign: The Quest for Nominalism in Chaucer and Langland,' Minnis develops evidence from theological writing—especiallysuch Anglo-Latin writers as Robert Holcot, Thomas Bradwardine, and Ralph Strode, amongst others, 'who produced theological bookswhich enjoyed a popularity beyond the schools,' helping to 'prepare the ground for vernacular theology'—and shows what part the chief Ricardian poets took in such theological discussions, across linguistic and generic boundaries. Richard Firth Green, in 'Ricardian "Trouthe": A Legal Perspective,' does similar work with legal practices and discourses, showing how the Ricardian poets' work was embedded in non-literary traditions again. AndThorlacTurville-Petre, in 'The Pearl-Poet in his "Fayre Regioun,"' discusses literary demographics, in effect: the shifts in population distribution, commercial traffic, and political arrangements making for a 'national' Ricardian literature, of which even the Pearl-poet is an exponent, he argues, where Edwardian literature had been several segregate 'regional' literatures: impersonal social circumstance speaks through. To wish for papers on painting, say, and architecture, or civic pageantry and royal ritual, or banqueting, would perhaps be to wish for too much, though work along such lines is ofcourse beingdone, and by persons undoubtedly influenced by Burrow's Ricardian Poetry. For all the laudable editorial foresight that went into conceiving Essays on Ricardian Literature, these are essays, suggestive rather than comprehensive. Though this is not a handbook of Ricardian literature nor of Ricardian studies, the book is well conceived, in a wayfestschriften often are not, and executed with a high level ofscholarly and critical acumen. This collection ofpapers does a good deal by itselfand should have the effect of stimulating more such work, towards realizing the project John Burrow conceived in Ricardian Poetry, 'a truly synoptic view' of Ricardian culture. DAVID R. CARLSON University of Ottawa derek PEARSALL, ed., Chaucer to Spenser, An Anthology. Maiden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1998. Pp. 686. isbn: 0-631-19838-5. $74.95 (hard) isbn: 0-631-198393 (paper) $36.95. This anthology is organized in response to theoretical debates that will be familiar to many instructors of early modern literature, if not to students: the 'arbitrariness of 158ARTHURIANA periodization,' the new historicist demands for reading literature in cultural and historical contexts, the literary value of inferior' or noncanonical writing. In place of the traditional assemblage ofGreat Works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are nondramatic poems plus excerpts from letters, biographies, speeches, prologues, and treatises, to be read in relation to cultural and literary themes and 'against' one another. In his short introduction, Pearsall names his themes (as arbitrary, ofcourse, as the periods he eschews)—the status ofEnglish, the rise of mysticism and affective devotion, a preoccupation with mutability, civic versus personal ethics, the representation of women, and a foregrounding of an interior subjectivity—but he fails to provide formal, easily-accessed structures for getting at them when, say, a teacher plans a syllabus or a student decides on a paper topic. In short, a crossreferenced user's guide or extensive discussions of organizing themes and dominant literary practices would make the nontraditional approach this anthology invites more manageable—and, perhaps, justify the book's high cost. Some of Pearsall's headnotes are quite helpful, however, in keying the entries to thematic interests and literary innovations. The introductions to each of the works by Chaucer, for example, discuss the...

The Tragic and the Sublime in Medieval Literature (review)

Reviews173 The Tragic and the Sublime in Medieval Literature, by Piero Boitani; xii and 330 pp. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, $69.95. Piero Boitani, author of Engluh Medieval Narrative in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries and editor of the essay collection Chaucer and the Italian Trecento, has long provided readers with literary and generic contexts in which to discuss and appreciate medieval literature. In The Tragic and the Sublime in Medieval Literature, Boitani puts together ten essays, some of which were previously published but are revised for the present volume, on works, passages, and episodes diat confront tragedy and sublimity. The collection focuses mainly on Dante, and all the essays seem to be building, like the Comedia itself, toward a study of Dante's sublime language during the final episodes with Beatrice, St. Bernard, die Virgin, and God at the end of the Paradiso. Chapter one focuses on Chaucer and the complexity of the old man in the Pardoner's Tale, a depiction Boitani argues is "supremely and 'sublimely' tragic." The second chapter, one of the most instructive in the book, contrasts the "meta-history" of Dante's story of Ugolino to Chaucer's starker, more universally tragic depiction of the same story in the Monk's Tale. Chaucer's version, says Boitani, recalls "black and white film ofscenes from a concentration camp" (p. 51). Chapter three turns to the oxymoronic language of Petrarchan love and its manifestation in Chaucer's Troilus. Boitani then focuses on the natural imagery of sunsets, flowers, and leaves in, mainly, Inferno II and the Troilus. Chapters five and six trace Biblical, Classical, and Medieval recognition scenes as contexts for the many dramatic recognition episodes in the Comedia. Chapter seven traces Marian lyrics in various authors including Chaucer, while the last two chapters provide the book's main focus, a study of the Dantesque sublime in the final cantos of the Paradiso, as Dante traces his steps toward recognition of God. Boitani makes very specific distinctions about the goals and audience of this book, and the reader or scholar would do well to keep them in mind while reading or deciding to read this collection. The book is "meant to be read by students" (p. ix) , and Boitani provides much plot summary and many quotations . Chaucerians probably do not need a close comparison of the Pardoner's old man and Hemingway's Santiago to see the distinct medievalness of Chaucer's depiction. But the comparison might help teachers provide a context for students new to the Middle Ages, and all readers will be impressed by Boitani's broad range, from Vergil to Eliot, Goethe, and Seamus Heaney. The chapters read like a set of lectures. Sometimes it is wearying to be dragged through the poetry word by word, and students will most likely want to put down the glosses and go read the primary texts for themselves. But like any good gloss or lecture, the book seems content to make us do just that. 1 74Philosophy and Literature But the critic and die researcher wanting, and needing, to engage with die critical issues of our time will find much less here. We find no gender studies, no sexual-textual politics, no new-historical contexts. Indeed, the book has no argument or diesis at all. Rather, it seeks to locate the tragic and sublime and make the reader sensitive to it and, no doubt, to the beauty of the poetry. Some critics will find this dangerously outdated and even politically irresponsible, beauty and the "quality" implied by sublimity being oppressive constructs of one kind or anodier. Odiers may find the absence ofpolitics a refreshing boon. In short, the book is quite frankly about an Italian professor's love for Dante, and Boitani clearly explains his authorial status: "any Italian critic must sooner or later confront his greatest poet . . . and that moment has now come for me" (p. xi). Readers are forewarned in the preface, and diey will have to decide whedier to witness this important moment, or these several moments, of confrontation that Professor Boitani has bound together. Whitman CollegeMichael Calabrese Crack Wars: Literature, Addiction, Mania, by Avital Ronell; 175 pp. Lincoln: University of Nebraska...