Rewriting Dante: The Creation of an Author from the Middle Ages to Modernity by Laura Banella Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date: _______________ Approved: ___________________________ Martin G. Eisner, Supervisor ___________________________ David F. Bell, III ___________________________ Roberto Dainotto ___________________________ Valeria Finucci Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 ABSTRACT Rewriting Dante: The Creation of an Author from the Middle Ages to Modernity by Laura Banella Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date: _________________ Approved: ___________________________ Martin G. Eisner, Supervisor ___________________________ David F. Bell, III ___________________________ Roberto Dainotto ___________________________ Valeria Finucci An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 Copyright by Laura Banella 2018 Abstract Rewriting Dante explores Dante’s reception and the construction of his figure as an author in early lyric anthologies and modern editions. While Dante’s reception and his transformation into a cultural authority have traditionally been investigated from the point of view of the Commedia, I argue that these lyric anthologies provide a new perspective for understanding how the physical act of rewriting Dante’s poems in various combinations and with other texts has shaped what I call after Foucault the Dante function” and consecrated Dante as an author from the Middle Ages to Modernity. The study of these lyric anthologies widens our understanding of the process of Dante’s canonization as an author and, thus, as an authority (auctor & auctoritas), advancing our awareness of authors both as entities that generate power and that are generated by power. By addressing the creation of his authoritative figure from its inception, this study sheds light on cultural production, both as a collective, almost anonymous, process and as a result of the intervention of prominent (and less prominent) individuals. By concentrating on the part of Dante’s oeuvre that may be considered less authoritative, that is, his lyric poetry, my study emphasizes aspects of the “Dante function” that go unobserved when focusing exclusively on the Commedia. This research interweaves the critical discourses related to the emergence of the author in the Late Middle Ages (Minnis, Ascoli, Auctor et Auctoritas) and the birth of the songbook as a literary genre (Barolini, Bertolucci Pizzorusso, Galvez, Holmes), also touching on the twentieth-century alleged ‘death of the author’ (Barthes, Foucault, Benedetti). I concentrate on the crucial function of editors and anthologists as mediators in the canonization of Dante through the material construction of manuscripts and books. This question has led me to explore canon making as a structure of power and the interplay of cultural hegemonies in its creation. I approach this problem through the lens of material philology because it is a productive interdisciplinary methodology, as is seen in the work of historians of the book McKenzie and Petrucci, and literary critics Eisner, Storey, and Nichols. iv Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... xi 0. Introduction. Materiality and Textuality: The Lyric Dante in History ..................................... 1 1. The Dante-function, Canon Making, and Modern Poetic Creations ..................................... 21 1.1 The Long Nineteenth Century and the Post-war Eras ................................................. 21 1.1.1. Questa stupida faccia... Contini-Brandeis-Montale ................................................. 21 1.1.2 1939: The Pivotal Year ................................................................................................. 24 1.1.3 Editorial Forms for Poetry ........................................................................................... 38 1.1.4 From Dante’s Canzoniere to Dante’s Rime .................................................................. 44 1.1.5 A Hermetic Dante ......................................................................................................... 51 1.2 ...Nel Mio Parlar Vogl’esser Aspro: Experimentation, Ordering, and Canon. ............ 57 1.2.1 2002. A New Lyric Dante? ........................................................................................... 64 1.2.2 1921/1939/2009-present. The Canon ....................................................................... 68 1.2.3 The Tenzone with Forese: Not Worthy of Dante! ..................................................... 71 1.2.3.1 Codex Chigi L VIII 305 .......................................................................................... 79 1.2.3.2 Sermo Humilis: the Tenzone, Inferno 30, and Purgatorio 23...............................85 1.2.4 The Rime Dubbie ............................................................................................................. 88 1.2.5 Experimentation ............................................................................................................ 99 v 2. Aï faus ris: the Dante-Function between Experimentation and Canon ...............................104 2.1 ...pour quoi traï aves oculos meos? ............................................................................................104 2.1.1 Structure and Content................................................................................................. 105 2.1.2 The Attribution to Dante ........................................................................................... 110 2.1.2.1 External References .............................................................................................. 120 2.1.3 Multiple Languages: Tradition and Genre. .............................................................. 134 2.1.3.1 The Lingua Trina, or a Nonexistent Language....................................................136 2.1.3.2 A Multiple Nature...................................................................................................140 2.2 Dante, France and the French ............................................................................................ 141 2.2.1 The Worthy Thibaut ...................................................................................................152 2.2.2 Si saccia per lo mondo... ............................................................................................. 156 2.3 The Books ............................................................................................................................. 159 2.3.1 The Princeps and the Giuntina ...................................................................................... 161 2.3.2 Trecento Manuscripts ................................................................................................. 166 3. The Dante-Function from the Age of Humanism to the Renaissance................................182 3.1 Books of Poetry, Poets and Books...................................................................................182 3.1.1 Boccaccio’s Dantean Anthologies...........................................................................184 3.2 Antonio Pucci, Campanaio, Herald, and Poet...............................................................191 3.2.1 Pucci's Dantean Books..............................................................................................193 3.2.2 The Benci Brothers ...................................................................................................204 3.3 Andrea Stefani, Musician and Poet..................................................................................209 vi 3.3.1 The Marucelliano Codex ..........................................................................................211 3.3.2 Andrea Stefani’s poetry ............................................................................................232 3.4 Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and the ‘Secolo Senza Poesia’ (1375-1475) ...................242 3.4.1 “Vulgaris Eloquentie Palmam:” Dante vs. Petrarch? ..........................................242 3.4.1.1 The Three Crowns: from Franco Sacchetti to Giannozzo Manetti ...........245 3.4.1.2 Collection Trends and Anthologies .................................................................256 3.5 Tuscan Quattrocento Anthologies....................................................................................259 3.5.1 Scattered Rhymes in Middle-Class Quattrocento Florence ................................259 3.5.2 The Same Canon, 50 Years Later ...........................................................................269 3.5.2.1 Reworking the Nine Worthies and Giotto .....................................................285 3.6 The Veneto from the Paduan Pre-Humanists to Giovanni Quirini and Giovanni Dondi..........................................................................................................................................294 Conclusion: Dante, the Creator of Italian Literature ..................................................................308