Renaissance and Reformation, 1970-72


the poetical structure as a result of the author's narrative and lyrical attitudes (De

Robertis); the cultural significance in the humanistic context (Ponte, Ruggieri).

The scope of this review does not allow for an adequate evaluation of all the essays

in this volume. There is no doubt, however, that several of them are an extremely

relevant and interesting addition to Boiardo criticism. All scholars, not only of the

r^ount of Scandiano, but also of Italian Renaissance culture and literature will find the

reading of this book a very stimulating and rewarding experience.

ANTONIO FRANCESCHETTI, University of Toronto

Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Complete Poems of Michelangelo. Tr. with notes and

introduction by Joseph Tusiani. New York: Humanities Press, 1969. Pp. Ixiii, 145.

The translation of poetry, under the most favourable conditions, is a literary and

linguistic trial by fire in which even the few really competent in this discipline do not

always come off perfectly safe. Michelangelo's poetry, moreover, as Professor Tusiani

observes in the "Introduction" to the present English edition, poses a particular

challenge. Lexical and syntactical difficulties have already created "pitiful traps" for

many a seasoned translator's efforts to "capture the power" of Michelangelo's poetic

inspiration, "and not the roughness of his dress." Professor Tusiani's own attempted
solution has been twofold: to stress lexical connotation rather than denotation, and

to preserve, as far as possible, the original rhythm and rime patterns.

"Michelangelo's poetry . . .because of its structural difficulties, can baffle the ear of

the keenest Italian reader." Ironically, this statement is also conversely true. Professor

Tusiani's translations, syntactically and lexically, can, and often do, "baffle the ear" of

the most ordinary English reader. Uncommon inversions, as in "some old holy man"
(167), and awkward ellipses: "Forever in my unworthy ready arms" (47) are not
infrequent. The metrical effects are often curiously Procrustean: the stretching out of

smoothly accented but poetically insignificant ideas on the one hand, or, on the

other, the forcing of ideas into a straitened mold: "Sweetness can stop even a serpent's

mouth/ Just as sour grapes bind the teeth in my mouth'\ (36) Lexical substitutions
sometimes lessen the emotional impact, as when the lover's quasi-religious "fede" is

metamorphosized into a "trick" (36); or they create anew the obscurities that the

translator is trying to avoid, as when the words of personified "Infelicità" "ben ama

chi ben arde, ov'io dimoro" become "Love only grows together with your sore". (47).

Professor Tusiani's silence about Creighton Gilbert's English translation of Michel-

angelo's complete poems in 1963, and about Enzo Girardi's 1967 edition of the Rime

must be attributed to the fact that his "Introduction", written in 1959, was not

updated. A translator would hardly bypass either scholar's introductory notes, or
Girardi's prose transliterations which, for the present edition in particular, could have

clarified many of the suppositions and generalizations about themes and metaphorical
allusions.

At those moments when the English phrasing is simplest, and least self-conscious
about its supposed obligation to recreate the poet's spirit in the original metrical

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patterns, it approaches most closely to Michelangelo's transparent candour and fiery

intensity. On occasion the reader is swept up into lyrical-or agonized- confrontation

with the soul of the creator; one could only wish that such occasions were more

numerous.

CAROL LINDHOLM, University of Toronto

Charles B. Schmitt. A Critical Survey and Bibliography of Studies on Renaissance
Aristotelianism 1958-1969. Padova: Editrice Antenore, 1971. Pp. 196. L. 3000.

Undoubtedly the most pervasive intellectual influence in the Renaissance period was

Aristotelianism, or "the varieties of Aristotelianism" as the author of this study puts \\

it. In one way or another Aristotle and his commentators affected every area of

European intellectual endeavor during c. 1400-c. 1650, the period under discussion in

this bibliography. The author, at present a research fellow in the history and philosophy

of science at the University of Leeds, has analysed the scholarship on Renaissance

Aristotelianism for the period 1958-1969, surveying over 600 items, including a number

of unpublished dissertations by Kristeller's students at Columbia. These studies, primar-

ily in the periodical literature, cover the history of Renaissance Aristotelianism in

Portugal, Spain, especially Italy, England, France, the Low Countries, Germany, and
Poland.

A quick review of the dominant general interpretations begins the book. Then after
reviewing bibliographical works, editions, translations, and textual criticism, he moves

on to the secondary literature. In each case he groups them into subject and geograph-

ical categories, and systematically works his way from the general to the particular.

Always the author keeps in mind the needs of scholars in a variety of fields. Schmitt's

Survey also lives up to its title of "critical": he does not hesitate to evaluate, to point

out inadequacies, and to take issue. All this is quite useful for, indeed, there is much

mistaken information abroad on even such a key figure as Pomponazzi. And even

when one disagrees with the author, his comments are intelligent and a good point of

reference.

In the last chapter he notes areas where future work needs to be done. Especially

needed is basic research behind the walls of Renaissance universities: what was taught?

who were the professors? what was their background? Schmitt also points out that

the problem of what he aptly calls "the escape from the Aristotelian predicament" in

the late Renaissance needs more study. Even while intellectuals sought to demolish

the Aristotelian worldview, they sometimes used Aristotelian cudgels, a kind of

intellectual cannibalism. Finally, the bibliography is simply organized and the index

accurate, making the book easy to use.

This reader was surprised at the amount of scholarship (including Schmitt's own
contributions) done in the past dozen years. The author has performed a valuable

service in providing this guide to it, and the publisher is to be congratulated for making

it available for less than $5.

PAUL F. GRENDLER, University of Toronto

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