Luigi Pulci and Laurentian Florence: Contra hypocritas tantum, pater, dissi
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- March 22, 2019
- Creator
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Maher, Michael John
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Romance Studies
- Abstract
- Luigi Pulci was a fifteenth-century Florentine poet and frequenter of the illustrious Medici family. Pulci is well-known for his chivalric epic poem the Morgante and the label of heretic assigned to him by contemporaries and literary critics alike. The polemic that occurred between Pulci and Marsilio Ficino, one of the most respected intellectuals of the time, is the impetus for this study. This study examines Pulci's controversial writings within the unique historical context of Renaissance Florence. A specific focus is dedicated to Pulci's sonnets of religious parody and those written in derision of Marsilio Ficino's Neoplatonic philosophy. A representation of Ficino is examined in the devil-theologian Astarotte in Canto XXV of Pulci's Morgante, while a representation of Pulci himself is identified in the literary character of Malagigi, also found in the Morgante. Ultimately, it is the contest between Neoplatonic and popular-vernacular cultural programs that generated the Pulci-Ficino polemic, resulting in Pulci's undeserved reputation as a non-believer.
- Date of publication
- August 2013
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- Rao, Ennio
- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2013
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