The Stanze of Angelo Poliziano

Book excerpt: Seldom have careful scholarship and book design combined to make a work as attractive as David Quint's new translation of Poliziano's Stanze per la giostra. . . . Quint's facing translation is excellent, conveying the tone and content of the poetry in prose paragraphs which reflect the ottave of the original; he manages an effect which is wholly satisfying.. . . an outstanding contribution belonging on every scholar's shelf. -Italica In his unique translation of Angelo Poliziano's The Stanze, David Quint reveals in English for the first time the pagan love story of the ill-fated Giuliano de Medici and the bewitching Simonetta--a theme that has inspired painters and poets for generations. The English prose is rich, vibrant and rhythmic, while at the same time accurate and natural. It captures the fragile and fugitive beauty of the original Italian verses, emulating the complex models of Latin and Greek literature. The English version, with copious explanatory notes, faces the Italian on the opposite page. The introduction locates the poem in its historical framework, examines the mythological symbolism, and interprets the so-called neoplatonic philosophy of love guiding the poet. -Choice Those who know the intricacies of translation should be the first to praise Professor Quint. . . His book cannot fail to cast new light on the Italian Renaissance in general, and on Poliziano in particular. -Forum Italicum David Quint is Professor of Comparative Literature and English at Yale University. His books include Epic and Empire: Politics and Generic Form from Virgil to Milton (Princeton, 1993) and Origin and Originality in Renaissance Literature: Versions of the Source (Yale, 1983).