Ronsard, Petrarch, and the Amours (review)

Short Notices 279 Parergon 20.1 (2003) for the Cartura protocol. These papers are of the same kind as Cartura’s, but they lack the richness of the former. Together, these two protocols form a welcome addition to a large body of sources on early medieval Venetian Crete published in the last few decades, such as: Salvatore Carbone, ed., Pietro Pizolo, Notaio in Candia (Venice, 1978-1985), 2 vols.; Antonino Lombardo, ed., Zaccaria da Fredo, Notaio in Candia (13521357 ) (Venice, 1968), and in particular Sally McKee, ed., Wills from Late Medieval Venetian Crete, 1312-1420 (Washington, DC, 1998), 3 vols. Zdenko Zlatar Department of History University of Sydney Sturm-Maddox, Sarah, Ronsard, Petrarch, and the Amours, Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 1999; cloth; pp. x, 208; RRP US$49.95; ISBN 0813017211. Perhaps the best known of the poets of the Pléiade, Pierre Ronsard was not backward in appropriating titles for himself, by claiming that his poetic talents carried on past traditions. He was not shy therefore about proclaiming himself ‘le Gaulois Apollon’ (the French Apollo) or, more appropriately for the theme of this book, ‘le Pétrarque français’ (the French Petrarch). Sturm-Maddox’s book does not of course claim originality in identifying for the first time the vast influence Petrarch had on Ronsard’s poetic production (and, by the way, on other poets of sixteenth-century France), but the author reminds her reader continually that the Petrarchan style is ever in the French poet’s work (more specifically, the Amours, the Sonets pour Hélène, the Second livre des Amours and the sequence Sur la mort de Marie). Rather than concentrating on Petrarchan influence at a micro level – a particular image, a calque of a phrase, for example – Sturm-Maddox’s book directs attention to the imitative practice as it emerges at the level of a Ronsardian poetic collection as a whole. The Rime sparse of the Italian poet and the ‘story’ Petrarch imprinted on them are shown to be crucial in influencing Ronsard in his several collections of love poems. Sturm-Maddox quotes extensively from the texts of both Petrarch and Ronsard, giving the reader the material to follow immediately her arguments. Both Italian and French quoted matter is rendered at once in the body of the text into English prose for the 280 Short Notices Parergon 20.1 (2003) benefit of monolingual scholars, although one wonders why such would pick up the book in the first place. Surely a knowledge of both languages is necessary for any scholar interested in this question of interlingual and intercultural influence? An Introduction plus four chapters and an Afterword form the structure of the work. There are copious Notes and an Index, the last being centred on authors and ideas. Generally, foreign language material is quoted correctly, although vulgus profanus (p. 109) should read vulgus profanum. A separate bibliography is not provided. In short, Sturm-Maddox’s book is a valuable revision of what we know about the influence of Petrarch on Ronsard, tracing the varying relationship of the latter poet to the former and re-evaluating the work of previous scholars who have turned their attention to this most interesting question. Max Walkley Department of French Studies University of Sydney Swanson, R. N., The Twelfth-Century Renaissance, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1999; cloth; pp. ix, 240; 8 b/w illustrations; RRP £45.00; ISBN 0719042550. The twelfth century is one of the key periods in the history of medieval Europe, a time of immense cultural vitality and intellectual energy allied to strong economic growth and expansion. Since C. H. Haskins first applied the term ‘renaissance’ to it in 1927, there has been an enormous amount of research and study devoted to all aspects of the political, economic and cultural life of the period. Perhaps because of this – but also because of doubts over the very concept of a renaissance – there have been relatively few attempts to produce a general overview of the period. Swanson’s aim is both modest and ambitious: ‘to provide a fair summary of current approaches and views’ (p. vii). Given the torrent of material which has appeared in recent years, and the...