Saracens and their World in Boiardo and Ariosto

Maria Pavlova

Italian Perspectives 47

Legenda

28 September 2020  •  298pp

ISBN: 978-1-781883-47-1 (hardback)  •  RRP £80, $110, €95

ISBN: 978-1-781883-50-1 (paperback, 22 January 2023)  •  RRP £14.99, $19.99, €17.99

ISBN: 978-1-781883-53-2 (JSTOR ebook)

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A ubiquitous presence in European chivalric literature, the multifaceted figure of the Saracen Other plays a vital role in shaping the knightly values and ideologies underpinning some of the most influential narrative poems of the Italian Renaissance. By combining historical research and close reading and bringing to bear a wealth of literary and documentary sources, some of which have never before been published, this book analyses portrayals of Saracens and their world in Boiardo’s Inamoramento de Orlando and Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Pavlova assesses for the first time the degree of realism in Boiardo’s and Ariosto’s representations of Islam and Islamic culture(s) and discusses the ideological implications of the two poets’ innovative treatment of their Saracen characters. She locates these and other fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century chivalric works within the rich, vibrant history of interactions between Italian rulers and their Islamic counterparts as well as within the centuries-long literary tradition, going back to such archetypal texts as the Chanson de Roland and the Chanson d’Aspremont.

Maria Pavlova is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick.

Reviews:

  • ‘This carefully-researched monograph achieves its aim of offering “a comprehensive insight” into the vast system of pagan characters within the romance epics of Boiardo and Ariosto... Scholars and graduate students invested in the Este and the Italian chivalric poem will be the most likely to follow the fine-grained analyses of the incredible genealogy and fictional heroes. The broader strokes will interest specialists in adjacent languages and fields. Pavlova’s results should be made available also to undergraduates, albeit in more accessible forms, when we teach these spacious poems from Renaissance Ferrara.’ — Jennifer Kathleen Mackenzie, Annali d'Italianistica 39, 2021, 514-516
  • ‘Scholars have usually highlighted an opposition between Boiardo’s admired representation of the Saracen world and its negative portrayal in Ariosto’s poem, and have interpreted these different approaches in the light of the historical, political, and religious transformations that took place in Italy between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Pavlova aims to challenge this reading by reconsidering the close relationship between Italy and the Islamic world through an original postcolonial perspective, and by reading the two poems in the context of the literary tradition to which they belong.’ — Francesco Lucioli, Modern Language Review 118.2, 2023, 260-61 (full text online)

Contents:

1-16

Introduction
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.6

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17-65

Chapter 1 Between History and Imagination: the Two Orlandos and Contemporary Perceptions of Non-Christians
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.7

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66-88

Chapter 2 Who’s Who in Boiardo’s Paganìa
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.8

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89-126

Chapter 3 Saracen Chivalry in the Inamoramento De Orlando
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.9

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127-172

Chapter 4 Saracen Chivalry in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.10

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173-216

Chapter 5 Rodomonte and Ruggiero: A Matter of Honour
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.11

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217-224

Conclusion Saracens and Their World: the Wider Picture
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.12

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225-238

Appendix I: A Catalogue of Boiardo’s Saracen Characters
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.13

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239-246

Appendix Ii: A Catalogue of Ariosto’s Saracen Characters
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.14

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247-266

Bibliography
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.15

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267-284

Index
Maria Pavlova
doi:10.2307/j.ctv1wsgr2w.16

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Bibliography entry:

Pavlova, Maria, Saracens and their World in Boiardo and Ariosto, Italian Perspectives, 47 (Legenda, 2020)

First footnote reference: 35 Maria Pavlova, Saracens and their World in Boiardo and Ariosto, Italian Perspectives, 47 (Legenda, 2020), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Pavlova, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Pavlova, Maria. 2020. Saracens and their World in Boiardo and Ariosto, Italian Perspectives, 47 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Pavlova 2020: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Pavlova 2020: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)


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