The Literary Riddle in Early Modern Italy

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-041-04217-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 296 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Anglo-Italian Renaissance Studies

This book describes the development of the literary riddle in Renaissance Italy, when poets appropriated riddles from oral tradition, combined them with the conventions of literature, and paired them with solutions that could be checked after reading. The book includes an original theoretical framework for the investigation of riddles, dividing riddles into categories based on their enigmatic link. A section about the social uses of riddles in early modern Italy shows how riddles were routinely exchanged at soirees and in the activities of academies and congreghe, all environments where the folk qualities of the riddle could be playful appreciated. The riddle became a key element in narrative works by Giovan Francesco Straparola and Ascanio de’ Mori, and, for the first time, it fueled enough collections of poems to trigger an entire genre. Examples will come from Angelo Cenni, Daphne di Piazza, Girolamo Musici, Tomaso Stigliani, Giulio Cesare Croce, Antonio Malatesti, and many others.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Arnaudo, Marco

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Romanische Literaturen Italienische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction

Chapter 1: Theoretical Framework

Chapter 2: Riddles as Social Exchange

Chapter 3: Riddles as Literary Inserts

Chapter 4: Collections of Poetic Riddles: Cenni, Daphne, Musici

Chapter 5: Collections of Poetic Riddles: Stigliani, Croce, Malatesti

Chapter 6: Malatesti’s Legacy

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Marco Arnaudo is a Professor of Italian at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he teaches classes about literature, games, comics, and military philosophy. His books include editions of 17th-century works and the monographies Il trionfo di Vertunno (2008), Dante barocco (2013), The Myth of the Superhero (2013), and A Tabletop Revolution (2024). He is the designer of the game Four against the Great Old Ones (2020) and has a video blog about tabletop games and gamebooks (MarcoOmnigamer, 25,000+ subscribers).