Humanisme

Some scuffing/staining to front wrap. Else book is fine. ; This collection, based on an international conference that took place at the University of Dijon in March 2012, addresses the theme of the “native region” as it appears in the works of Renaissance authors whose languages of expression were Latin and French. The contributors offer several reflections on the image that these authors left of their “little homeland”, to borrow Cicero’s affectionate description of Arpinum. After an initial discussion of authors from southern Europe such as Mantua’s Battista Spagnoli and Spain’s Juan Luis Vivès, the volume takes as its central object the Humanist writers of northern Europe, both the famous and the more obscure, from a variety of national origins (Flemish, German, Scottish, French…). The chapters reveal several prominent characteristics of a northern humanism which, by articulating a northern, regional identity, confirms its opposition to (and rivalry with) southern humanism. They also analyze the diverse modes of description by means of which poets seek to describe their native region. Often laudatory, more rarely critical, these descriptions are sometimes “deflected”, for example when the “little homeland” is not the place of birth per se, but another, adopted place. At other times the birthplace is even rejected, most notably by Protestant authors. Taken together, these chapters present a vast overview of the images of their native region that nearly thirty humanist authors left to posterity. The writings here examined are by humanists from various countries, of diverse confessional affiliations, who composed their works in a variety of literary genres, yet all of them bear witness to the rich fecundity of this motif for a hermeneutic reading of their works. ; Travaux D'Humanisme Et Renaissance DXXI; 391 pages