Rhetorical Renaissance: The Mistress Art and Her MasterworksKathy Eden reveals the unexplored classical rhetorical theory at the heart of iconic Renaissance literary works. Kathy Eden explores the intersection of early modern literary theory and practice. She considers the rebirth of the rhetorical art—resulting from the rediscovery of complete manuscripts of high-profile ancient texts about rhetoric by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Tacitus, all unavailable before the early fifteenth century—and the impact of this art on early modern European literary production. This profound influence of key principles and practices on the most widely taught early modern literary texts remains largely and surprisingly unexplored. Devoting four chapters to these practices—on status, refutation, similitude, and style—Eden connects the architecture of the most widely read classical rhetorical manuals to the structures of such major Renaissance works as Petrarch’s Secret, Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier, Erasmus’s Antibarbarians and Ciceronianus, and Montaigne’s Essays. Eden concludes by showing how these rhetorical practices were understood to work together to form a literary masterwork, with important implications for how we read these texts today. |
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adversarial agenda aligns Ancient Rhetorical Antibarbarians Antonius Aper argument Aristotle Aristotle's ASD I-2 Attic Augustine Augustinian Batt Bembo Brutus Bulephorus Cambridge Castiglione chapter Chomarat Christian Cicero Ciceronian Classical collatio comparison conjectural conversation copia Courtier Crassus Crassus’s decorum Dialectic dialogue dicere difference dimension early modern elenchus elocutio eloquence epagōgē Erasmus Erasmus's essay Euphuism featured Federico forensic Franciscus Gorgias Grammaire et rhétorique Greek handbooks Hermeneutics historicizing History Hoby human Humanist Imitating Authors insists Institutio oratoria interlocutors invention inventione Isocrates John Lyly Latin letter literary Ludovico Lyly Maier Montaigne nature Nosoponus orator oratore Oxford parabola Petrarch Phaedrus philosophical Pico Plato potestas practice Pro Milone Quintilian readers refutation Renaissance Rhetoric rhetorical manuals rhetorical theory rhetoricians Roman Secretum Simile similitude Socrates speaking speech sprezzatura status system strategy style stylistic Susenbrotus Tacitus tion topics Tradition trans voluntas Whereas words writing