The Image of Antiquity in Boccaccio's "Filocolo, Filostrato" and "Teseida"

Contents: Italian literature - Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375) - Romance, late medieval and early Renaissance - Humanism - History of classical scholarship - History of classical archaeology - Vergil - Ovid - Titus Livius.

The Author: James H. McGregor is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. His articles on Boccaccio have appeared in leading journals in the U.S. and Italy. He has a Ph.D. from Princeton University and was a Fellow in Post-Classical Humanistic Studies at the American Academy in Rome, 1981-82. In 1984-85, he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Italian at the University of California-Berkeley.

"In his book, McGregor has been able to retrace the exact route of Boccaccio's itinerary into the myths, the characters and the ideals of the ancient world. He clearly and persuasively shows that Boccaccio's minute assembling of data and notions develops into a much more significant recovery of cultural values, i.e., into a spiritual growth. The book is the most serious and comprehensive study ever written on Boccaccio's 'Neapolitan' works in this country, and the only one that will get full attention and lasting recognition among Italian critics." (Gian Paolo Biasin, University of California-Berkeley)
"Resulta un libro muy curioso y entretenido, que nos muestra con toda evidencia la presencia e influencia de los clásicos en esas tres obras del escritor italiano." (José Ortall, Augustinus)
"The happy effect of this study is to draw closely together Boccaccio's scholarly work and his writing of fiction. McGregor's volume is a useful contribution to our understanding of this major writer and of his enormous impact on succeeding generations." (Janet L. Smarr, Renaissance Quarterly)
"The quality of 'The Image of Antiquity in Boccaccio' bodes well for the series of which it is the inaugural volume." (Dennis Looney, Speculum)