Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Perhaps the most important Italian poet of the sixteenth century, Torquato Tasso's King Torrismondo is a dual language edition translation of his Il re Torrismondo, and the first to be made directly from the Italian into English. This translation provides readers with a wider range of the Italian tragedy as a genre as well as a possible manifestation of a spiritual dilemma, and allows readers to acquire a deeper and more involved awareness of the entire spectrum of the Italian Renaissance in its final brilliance, and therefore, in the inception of a new literary fashion such as we see in those nations influenced by Italian poetry. King Torrismondo affords the reader with an opportunity for comparative analysis of French, English, and Spanish literature in the development of tragedy as a European genre. King Torrismondo is a masterpiece of the translator's art, and a stunning addition to academic literary studies of Italian (and European) Renaissance epic poetry."
Synopsis
This tranlation of Torquato Tasso's ll re Torrismondo, the first to be made directly from the Italian into English, is intended to help those students and scholars who do not command the language of the original text. This translation provides readers with a wider range of the Italian tragedy as a genre; it also allows readers to acquire a deeper awareness of the entire spectrum of the Italian Renaissance in its final brilliance. Tasso's King Torrismondo provides an example of Neo-Aristotelian dramatic theory of the second half of the fifteenth century. It incorporates into the dramatic genre elements of the epic lyric poem. Tasso's langugae can also be studied as an example of "imitation" of Virgil, Dante, Petrach, and Tasso's own epic. Finally, Tasso's Torrismondo affords us an opportunity of comparative analysis of French, English, and Spanish literature in the development of tragedy as a European genre.
About the Author
Maria Pastore Passaro is a member of the Modern Language Department at Central Connecticut State University and was appointed to the Yale/Mellon Visiting Faculty Program for 1996-7.
Anthony Oldcorn is a member of the Department of Italian Studies at Brown University.