Poems of Widowhood: A Bilingual Edition of the 1538 Rime
Vittoria Colonna’s 1538 Rime, originally issued without her permission by a small Parma press, was the first of many editions of her poetry published during her lifetime. Born into one of the most powerful families in Rome and connected to many of the great political, religious, and artistic figures of the period, Colonna was uniquely positioned to transform the landscape of women’s writing. The first woman to see her own poems appear in print in a single-author volume, she led the way for hundreds of other women of her time to publish their own works. Comprising more than one hundred and forty sonnets and two canzoni, the Rime expresses Colonna’s anguish over the loss of her husband and her struggle both to preserve his memory and secure her own future. This volume presents the first complete English translation of the 1538 Rime and restores the original Italian texts from the blemished Parma printing and later composite editions, a boon to readers of both languages.
“A full translation of Colonna’s Rime is very much awaited by students and scholars all over the world. . . . Targoff writes with a rare enthusiasm and sophistication, drawing her readers through Colonna’s rich life—her friendships, love, widowhood, literary ambitions, religious yearnings—while being both fascinatingly accessible and editorially innovative."
- Unn Falkeid, University of Oslo, Norway
RAMIE TARGOFF is professor of English, cochair of Italian studies, and the Jehuda Reinharz Director of the Mandel Center for the Humanities at Brandeis University. She is the author of Common Prayer: The Language of Public Devotion in Early Modern England; John Donne, Body and Soul; and Posthumous Love: Eros and the Afterlife in Renaissance England, all published by the University of Chicago Press. Her most recent book is Renaissance Woman: The Life of Vittoria Colonna.
TROY TOWER is associate lecturer of Italian at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He has coedited the poetry of Colonna’s contemporary, Gaspara Stampa.
PRESENTATION
Catherine Frisone Scott Center for Italian Cultural Studies in memory of John B. Frisone, University of Massachusetts Boston, presents: Vittoria Colonna in Verse, Song and Print
February 15, 2022
The Catherine Frisone Scott Center presents: Vittoria Colonna in Verse, Song and Print - YouTube
REVIEWS
Annali d'italianistica 40 (2022): 445–446. Reviewed by Marianna Orsi.
Early Modern Women 18.2 (2024): 385–388. Reviewed by Sarah Rolfe Prodan.
Renaissance & Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme 45.2 (2022): 308–310. Reviewed by Elena Brizio.
Vittoria Colonna’s 1538 Rime, originally issued without her permission by a small Parma press, was the first of many editions of her poetry published during her lifetime. Born into one of the most powerful families in Rome and connected to many of the great political, religious, and artistic figures of the period, Colonna was uniquely positioned to transform the landscape of women’s writing. The first woman to see her own poems appear in print in a single-author volume, she led the way for hundreds of other women of her time to publish their own works. Comprising more than one hundred and...
book Details
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Page Count:
226 pages
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Publication Year:
2021
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Publisher:
Iter Press Series:
- The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Toronto Series 82