Godina izdanja: 1991
ISBN: 9780300055092
Jezik: Engleski
Vrsta: Eseji i kritike
Autor: Strani

Complete annotated translations, commentary, and introduction - James M. Saslow

Yale University Press 1991 559 strana

odlična očuvanost

1. What the book is

James Saslow’s The Poetry of Michelangelo is considered the most authoritative English edition of Michelangelo’s lyric poetry. It includes:

A complete bilingual edition (Italian text + English translation)

Extensive commentary and annotations

A major scholarly introduction discussing the poet’s life, manuscript history, interpretive issues, and major themes

Contextual essays on Renaissance poetics, literary influences, and Michelangelo’s artistic-philosophical worldview

The book is designed to serve both scholars and general readers.

2. Why Saslow’s edition is important

✔ Most accurate English translations

Saslow provides translations that are:

extremely close to the original syntax,

faithful to Michelangelo’s idiosyncratic language,

stylistically aligned with Renaissance lyricism,

free from Victorian moralizing tendencies that altered earlier translations.

✔ Critical apparatus unmatched by previous editions

He includes:

full notes on variants of manuscripts,

explanations of Michelangelo’s metaphors, philosophical allusions, and Neoplatonic concepts,

identification of addressees (Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, Vittoria Colonna, Cecchino Bracci),

brief historical introductions to each poem.

✔ Modern understanding of Michelangelo’s sexuality

Saslow explicitly addresses:

the homoerotic dimension of many poems,

how younger artists and humanists received his verses,

the history of censorship, editing, and gender-switching applied by earlier editors (particularly Michelangelo the Younger in 1623).
This greatly influenced later scholarship.

3. Structure of the book

I. Introduction (long and deeply researched)

Covers:

Michelangelo’s biography as a poet

Renaissance literary traditions (Petrarchism, Neoplatonism)

Manuscript transmission, censorship, textual problems

The poet’s relation to love, desire, spirituality, and art

Aesthetic theories in the 16th century

II. The Poems (Italian + English)

The poems are arranged chronologically and by addressee:

Early lyrical experiments

Poems to Tommaso de’ Cavalieri (love sonnets, madrigals)

Spiritual and religious poems

Poems to Vittoria Colonna (intensely spiritual dialogues)

Late metaphysical poems

Fragmentary drafts and occasional verses

Each poem has:

facing-page translation

commentary

notes on vocabulary, rhetoric, theme

manuscript history

III. Appendices

Lists of variants

Chronology

Bibliography

Indices (first lines, thematic topics, names)

4. Key themes Saslow highlights

1. Neoplatonic Love

Influence of Ficino and Florentine circles:

the beloved as an image of divine beauty,

elevation of the soul through contemplating bodily form,

struggle between earthly passion and divine transcendence.

2. Homoerotic Desire

Saslow argues that:

Michelangelo’s poems to young men express genuine emotional and erotic intimacy,

such language fits Renaissance conventions but also has a personal intensity,

later editors tried to “cleanse” or heterosexualize these verses.

3. Art as a spiritual calling

Recurring metaphors:

the artist’s struggle,

the inadequacy of art to capture divine beauty,

the role of inspiration, imagination, and perfection.

4. Mortality and salvation

Late poetry increasingly preoccupied with:

death,

repentance,

seeking God’s grace,

disillusionment with art and worldly fame.

5. The conflict between body and soul

A central Michelangelesque theme:

desire for physical beauty vs. moral–spiritual aspiration.

5. Saslow’s approach and scholarly contribution

Philological precision — keeps the rough, difficult, sometimes ungrammatical original voice.

Historical approach — situates Michelangelo’s poetry within Renaissance humanism and courtly culture.

Queer reading — a landmark in Michelangelo studies for addressing sexuality without euphemism.

Accessible commentary — suitable for students of art history, literature, Renaissance studies, LGBTQ studies.

Bridges poetry with art — explains how the poems reflect Michelangelo’s sculptural and architectural ideas.

6. Why students and scholars use this edition

Saslow’s translation is usually the default choice for:

university courses on Renaissance literature,

academic papers about Michelangelo’s aesthetics,

research on homoeroticism in Renaissance art,

interdisciplinary work combining art history and literary studies.

It is considered the most complete, transparent, and intellectually honest edition of Michelangelo’s poetry in English.