The Notebook Of Gismondo Cavaletti

Novel set in 16th century Florence depicts the sumptuousness of the Renaissance. Gismondo, a bookkeeper for a rich merchant, develops a disfiguring, incurable tumor on his face. Painfully isolated, he suffers from a secret passion for a beautiful widow.

This new collection of essays, commissioned from a range of scholars across the world, takes as its theme the reception of Rome's greatest poet in a time of profound cultural change. Amid the rise of Christianity, the changing status of the city of Rome, and the emergence of new governing classes, Vergil remained a bedrock of Roman education and identity. This volume considers the different ways in which Vergil was read, understood and appropriated; by poets, commentators, Church fathers, orators and historians. The introduction outlines the cultural and historical contexts. Twelve chapters dedicated to individual writers or genres, and the contributors make use of a wide range of approaches from contemporary reception theory. An epilogue concludes the volume.