Boccaccio's Naked Muse: Eros, Culture, and the Mythopoeic Imagination (Toronto Italian Studies)

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) experimented with such a wide variety of genres that critics have tended to focus more on the differences among his works than on their underlying similarities. However, a more comprehensive examination of his corpus reveals that concealed beneath this striking diversity of subject and genre there is a coherent mythology, a virtual catalogue of innovative myths designed to more accurately reflect his cultural experience and better address the needs of his age. Exploring the most significant of these myths, Boccaccio's Naked Muse presents a writer who cast himself as the apostle of a new humanistic faith, one that would honour God by exalting his creation. Tobias Foster Gittes argues that Boccaccio did not simply reproduce Golden Age schemes in his works. Rather, he subtly altered and adapted them in order to produce a model of human beatitude more suited to his conviction that cultural achievement and human dignity are indissolubly linked. Gittes critiques common conceptions of Boccaccio's passivity, or his readiness to speak dismissively of his own work and to cast himself as a victim of vicious critics. Instead, Gittes shows that Boccaccio deliberately assumed this posture of passivity to align himself with a series of martyrs who, like him, had willingly suffered torments in the interest of cultural advancement. By venturing outside the Decameron to the Latin works, and outside the usual textual and intertextual readings of Boccaccio to more broadly cultural and anthropological material, Boccaccio's Naked Muse offers fresh insights on this hugely significant literary figure and his lifelong campaign to transform mythological traditions into a gift for all humanity. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 A Note on the Translations 12 Introduction 16 1 Universal Myths of Origin: Boccaccio and the Golden Age Motif 37 The Classical Golden Age Traditions 42 Boccaccio’s Elegiac Primitivism 52 Boccaccio’s Rationalistic Reevaluation of the Golden Age 57 The Escape to Paradise 83 2 Local Myths of Origin: The Birth of the City and the Self 90 Physical Restoration: The Fertile Loam of Tuscany 90 Political Restoration and Miscegenation: Ex Pluribus Unum 102 Boccaccio’s Fruitful Bastardy 134 3 The Myth of a New Beginning: Boccaccio’s Palingenetic Paradise 154 Tabula Rasa and Saïtic Seed: The Effacement and Replacement of Knowledge 154 The Restoration of Knowledge: The Poet as Pedagogical Pimp 168 Nel Cospetto degli Uomini: The Prophylactic Peep-show of Decameron VI 194 4 The Myth of Historical Foresight: Babel and Beyond 223 On the Shoulders of (Blasphemous) Giants: The Limits of Knowledge 223 Through the Literary Looking-glass: The Textual Monument as Mirror 230 Notes 256 Works Consulted 342 Index 360 Boccaccio's Naked Muse Examines A Writer Who Cast Himself As The Apostle Of A New Humanistic Faith, One That Would Honour God By Exalting His Creation. In This Study, Tobias Foster Gittes Argues That Boccaccio Did Not Simply Reproduce Golden Age Schemes In His Works, But Rather Subtly Altered And Adapted Them To Produce A Model Of Human Beatitude More Suited To His Conviction That Cultural Achievement And Human Dignity Are Indissolubly Linked.--jacket. 1. Universal Myths Of Origin: Boccaccio And The Golden Age Motif -- 2. Local Myths Of Origin: The Birth Of The City And The Self -- 3. Myth Of A New Beginning: Boccaccio's Palingenetic Paradise -- 4. Myth Of Historical Foresight: Babel And Beyond. Tobias Foster Gittes. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [329]-346) And Index. Includes Some Text In Italian And Latin.