Reason, Passion and Consciousness in Francesco Petrarca's /Canzoniere/

This course will focus on Petrarch, the very first poet of modernity, and his Canzoniere which recounts – in 366 poems – the poet’s love for Laura. Here, the universal themes of love, joy, pain, sorrow, melancholy, nostalgia, hope and death, are elaborated by Petrarch with such a beauty and formal perfection that they have become models for countless poets and readers. This course will examine how the Canzoniere is constructed and why Petrarca continues to surprise us with his modernity. Moving from a synopsis of the love-centered literary tradition previous to Petrarch we will focus on some of the most significant Petrarchan poems to underscore the phenomenology of love in his masterpiece.

Required Texts:
-Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere, Introduction by Paolo Cherchi, edited by Sabina Stroppa, Torino, Einaudi, 2010, ET Classici, pp. XXXVIII - 634 , ISBN 9788806197780
(with two essays by Giosuè Carducci and Gianfranco Contini), 14.50 EUR.
-Paolo Cherchi, Verso la chiusura. Saggio sul Canzoniere, Bologna, il Mulino, 2008, pp. 200, ISBN 9788815120250, EUR 17.00, Available in Kindle format EUR 9,09.