Description
of the symposium:
Francis Petrarch was born from a Florentine exile in Arezzo on July 20,
1304; he died in Arquà, near Padua, during the night of July 18-19,
1374. Heralded as the first Renaissance man and one of the greatest Humanists
of all times, Petrarch exercised by far his greatest influence by means
of his Canzoniere, entitled: Francisci Petrarche laureati poete rerum
vulgarium fragmenta, a collection of 366 poems, on which Petrarch worked
through most of his adult life until his death, celebrating the Petrarch-persona's
alternating relationships with an idealized woman, Laura.
Petrarch's Canzoniere incorporates many of the previous songbooks' technical
and poetic characteristics, from the exploitation of virtually all available
metrical forms to the construction of his collection following the bipartite
structure typical of Dante's Vita nuova: namely, the celebration of the
beloved, first, when she is alive; and, second, when she is dead and in
heaven. The aspect in which Petrarch surpassed all previous lyric traditions
and which fascinated all poets for centuries to come, is the poetic I's
unremittingly introspective analysis of all facets of the human psyche
in its never-ending attempts at bridging the gap between the self and
the other, personified by the beloved. The conclusion of the Canzoniere,
however, seems to overturn that seemingly impossible human endeavor of
connecting with the feminine other. The Petrarch-persona, in fact, turns
himself wholly to the Christian Godhead through the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin, thereby placing a religious and sacred seal on a poetic
creation that is characterized more by the personal, individualistic,
and earthly pursuit than by a supernatural search.
Petrarch's Canzoniere influenced, modified, and shaped all lyric poetry
for the next three centuries, until the middle of the 17th century, and
constituted a constant point of reference for many poets throughout the
18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The unparalleled literary phenomenon that
swept through most of Western Europe, particularly Italy, France, Spain,
and Great Britain, became known as Petrarchism and constituted one of
the most revolutionary and innovative trends in modern poetry.
Insofar as poetry, in all its manifestations, according to Mikhail Bakhtin,
has shaped and shapes humans' way of thinking and relating to each other
more so than philosophy and technology, one can appreciate the importance
of Petrarch in Europe's literary and cultural history. The seventh centenary
of Petrarch's birth, therefore, is an appropriate moment for reflecting
on Petrarch and Petrarchism especially in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal,
and Great Britain.
With the support of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department
of Romance Languages and Literatures, Annali d'Italianistica intends to
celebrate the seventh centenary of Petrach's birth in two ways: first,
by organizing a symposium on Petrarch and the European lyric tradition
in the Spring of 2004 on the campus of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill; second, by publishing selected papers of the Convention
in the 2004 issue of AdI, scheduled to appear in the fall of the same
year, with the possibility of posting electronically on the journal's
website all papers presented at the Symposium.
The Convention organizers have invited internationally known scholars
from North America and Europe in order to analyze the multiple influences
and reactions to Petrarch and Petrarchism in Europe. In addition to several
keynote speakers, the Convention intends to gather also scholars who are
interested in sharing their views on the literary and cultural phenomenon
created by Petrarch.
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