Review (PDF) My Secret Book (The I Tatti Renaissance Library)
Francesco Petrarca (1304–1374), one of the greatest of Italian poets, was also the leading spirit in the Renaissance movement to revive literary Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, and Greco-Roman culture in general. My Secret Book (Secretum) records “the private conflict of my thoughts,” in the form of a dialogue between Franciscus and Augustinus in the presence of a beautiful woman, Truth personified. The discussion reveals remarkable self-awareness as Petrarca probes and evaluates the springs of his own morally dubious addictions to Fame and Love.
Series: The I Tatti Renaissance Library (Book 72)
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Harvard University Press (June 13, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0674003462
ISBN-13: 978-0674003460
Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 1 x 5.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
Best Sellers Rank: #358,340 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #36 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European > Italian #272 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Movements > Humanism
Nicholas Mann and the I Tatti Library have achieved something very special here. Petrarch's private, secret thoughts are beautifully translated. The "secret book" is written as a dialogue between Franciscus and Augustinus both of whom are "in the presence of a beautiful woman." Lineated Latin text with facing English translation (just like Loeb).Petrarch's Invectives (also available from I Tatti) and his Life of Solitude both argue against a gluttonous, material life; both betray the author's conflicted relationship to life's most superficial and gilded adornments. The true man is here revealed, naked and afraid.
Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance (I Tatti studies in Italian Renaissance history) My Secret Book (The I Tatti Renaissance Library) History of the Florentine People, Volume 1: Books I-IV (The I Tatti Renaissance Library) Platonic Theology, Volume 2: Books V-VIII (The I Tatti Renaissance Library) Perspectives on the Renaissance Medal: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance (Garland Studies in the Renaissance) RISE of the MACHINES: Secret Weapons, Secret Wars, & Secret Agendas Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms: The Masterworks Library (Boosey & Hawkes Masterworks Library) (The Boosey & Hawkes Masterworks Library) Renaissance Book Collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, their Books and Bindings Of One Heart (Renaissance Rogues Book 2) Secret Greenhouse of Survival (Secret Garden of Survival Book 2) Jackson (BBW Secret Baby Bear Shifter Romance) (Secret Baby Bears Book 3) Medieval And Renaissance Dagger Combat A Treasury of Bookplates from the Renaissance to the Present Make Your Own Hard Lotion: A Healing Alternative to Traditional Lotions (The Backyard Renaissance Collection) Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance The Renaissance Garden in England Medals of the Renaissance Economics of the International Coal Trade: The Renaissance of Steam Coal The Folkboat Story: From Cult to Classic-The Renaissance of a Legend Homosexuality in Renaissance England
