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Project
Examplary reading. Renaissance commentaries on Valerius Maximus and the rhetoric of exemplum.
A remarkably neglected way of entering the Wirkungsgeschichte</> of Valerius Maximus myriad of rhetorical anecdotes in his Memorable Deeds and Sayings </>(Facta et dicta memorabilia)</> is an in-depth study of his Renaissance commentators from the 14th up to the 17th century. Since scholars from Petrarch onwards treated classical texts both as documents of historical interest, which could make the ancient world live again, and as ideal and timeless objects for literary imitation in the present, commentaries prove to be an indirect yet fascinating route both to Valerius collection of exempla</> and its narrative force.</></>
In this research project it is investigated how Renaissance commentaries on Valerius Maximus, dating from the generation following Petrarch and including the influential commentaries by Oliverius Arzignanensis (Venice, 1487), Jodocus Badius Ascensius (Paris, 1510), Henricus Glareanus (Basle, 1550), and Stephanus Pighius (Antwerp, 1574), functioned intheir cultural and literary context. In a second stage the question is raised how this commentary tradition, inspired by Petrarch and his contemporaries in the intellectual and literate milieu of 14th-century Avignon to various degrees, led to a new, humanist vision on Valerius Maximus and his rhetorical use of exempla</>. As such it is argued how this humanist reading of Valerius Maximus collection elicited both a new aesthetics of composition and a shifting use of ideologically useful exempla</> in the 14th up to the 17th centuries.</></></></></></>
In this research project it is investigated how Renaissance commentaries on Valerius Maximus, dating from the generation following Petrarch and including the influential commentaries by Oliverius Arzignanensis (Venice, 1487), Jodocus Badius Ascensius (Paris, 1510), Henricus Glareanus (Basle, 1550), and Stephanus Pighius (Antwerp, 1574), functioned intheir cultural and literary context. In a second stage the question is raised how this commentary tradition, inspired by Petrarch and his contemporaries in the intellectual and literate milieu of 14th-century Avignon to various degrees, led to a new, humanist vision on Valerius Maximus and his rhetorical use of exempla</>. As such it is argued how this humanist reading of Valerius Maximus collection elicited both a new aesthetics of composition and a shifting use of ideologically useful exempla</> in the 14th up to the 17th centuries.</></></></></></>
Date:1 Oct 2010 → 30 Sep 2014
Keywords:Petrarch, Rhetorical use of exempla, Renaissance commentaries, Stephanus Pighius, Renaissance humanism, Roman historiography, Valerius Maximus, Neo-Latin literature
Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies
Project type:PhD project