The Donna me prega of the Seicento? Reassessing Vico's Unautobiographical Affetti di un disperato

In this study Sherry Roush analyzes Giambattista VicoÕs "Affetti di un disperato" (Affections of a Desperate Man, 1693) as a theoretical canzone indebted to Guido CavalcantiÕs philosophical-poetic mode and Giovanni Della CasaÕs poetic Mannerism. She argues that VicoÕs poem deserves to be read on terms other than strictly autobiographical ones, finding that it presents a rational distillation in rhyme of widely debated philosophical notions, especially seventeenth-century theories concerning the causes and effects of human passions and affections (Descartes, Spinoza, Caloprese, Giannelli).