From the locus amoenus to the locus ambiguus, Sperone Speroni and the setting of Renaissance dialogue

grantor: University of TorontoThe primary concern of this dissertation is to discuss the settings depicted in Speroni's dialogic works in terms of their significance to the literary and philosophical discourses in those writings, and their effect on the interactions of the various interlocutors. The focus is essentially on the 'editio princeps' of 1542. Some other dialogues from later editions have been included in the analysis because they share thematic or stylistic characteristics. The first chapter is dedicated to an analysis of the critical and theoretical literature on the dialogue as a literary genre. With reference to Speroni's theoretical work 'Apologia dei dialoghi' (1574), the discussion takes into consideration modern and contemporary criticism on the nature of dialogue. The aim of this review is to contextualize Speroni's 'Dialoghi ' in the Italian Renaissance. Speroni's 'Dialoghi' are also analyzed from the viewpoint of the development of the literary dialogue in the Italian Renaissance. To this end, the classical models of dialogue that were developed by various writers from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries are also investigated. The second chapter concentrates on the publishing history of Speroni's ' Dialoghi' from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Critical commentary on the editions, the editors, the publishing house, and the place of publication of the dialogues is provided. There is also a lengthy section dedicated to the criticism of the 'Dialoghi' from the very first commentators to the most recent literary critics. The third chapter is dedicated more specifically to analyses of Speroni's dialogues from the 1520s to the 1540s. Speroni's adaptation of classical and earlier Renaissance dialogue forms is made evident through concentration on the influence of the settings on the development of the interlocutors' discussions and the unfolding of the discourse. The analysis leads to the conclusion that Speroni unlocks the potential contained in the works of previous dialogists and, at times, subverts their messages. He thus illustrates his belief that rhetoric and word-play lie at the basis of all human endeavours and that the unbridgeable aporia obstructs any attempt to arrive at absolute truths.Ph.D