The Scroll of Love by Immanuel of Rome: A Hebrew Parody of Dante’s Vita Nuova

The affinity between the Scroll of Love in the Maḥbarot by Immanuel of Rome (1265–1335?) and the Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) has long been discussed by Hebrew scholars in terms of influence and imitation. What the present study suggests is that the Scroll of Love is, in fact, a parody of Dante’s sublime youthful work, and that the elements traditionally read as pseudo-autobiography are instead literary elements contributing to the parody. To strengthen her thesis the author draws attention to the Rota Veneris, a thirteenth-century work parodying the literary traditions of amor carnalis and amor spiritualis, and also notes a curious parallel with Boccaccio’s Filostrato and the changing ways scholars have read that work over the centuries.