Italian Literature: The Dominant Themes
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
From the lyric intensity of Dante and Petrarch to the searing social realism of the twentieth century, Italian literature stands as one of the most formidable and richly layered traditions in all of Western culture — and Christopher Cairns's Italian Literature: The Dominant Themes presents a compelling, authoritative map of its vast terrain. Part of the acclaimed Comparative Literature series, this scholarly yet accessible volume chronicles the defining currents and recurring preoccupations that have shaped Italian letters across the centuries, tracing the interplay between aesthetics, politics, religion, and national identity with precision and depth. Cairns argues that to understand Italian literature is to understand the very architecture of the European literary imagination, and he illustrates this thesis through incisive readings of major authors, movements, and genres — from the medieval vernacular revolution through the Renaissance and Baroque, to Romanticism and the modernist ruptures of the 1900s. His prose is measured and authoritative, bringing rigorous critical intelligence to bear without sacrificing the sense of discovery that great literary criticism demands. Written for students and scholars alike, this volume rewards both the newcomer curious about Boccaccio or Calvino and the seasoned reader seeking a unifying critical framework — leaving one to wonder just how deeply the roots of Italian literature extend beneath every page of the Western canon.
Author: Christopher Cairns
Format: Hardback
Genre: Literary theory
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
From the lyric intensity of Dante and Petrarch to the searing social realism of the twentieth century, Italian literature stands as one of the most formidable and richly layered traditions in all of Western culture — and Christopher Cairns's Italian Literature: The Dominant Themes presents a compelling, authoritative map of its vast terrain. Part of the acclaimed Comparative Literature series, this scholarly yet accessible volume chronicles the defining currents and recurring preoccupations that have shaped Italian letters across the centuries, tracing the interplay between aesthetics, politics, religion, and national identity with precision and depth. Cairns argues that to understand Italian literature is to understand the very architecture of the European literary imagination, and he illustrates this thesis through incisive readings of major authors, movements, and genres — from the medieval vernacular revolution through the Renaissance and Baroque, to Romanticism and the modernist ruptures of the 1900s. His prose is measured and authoritative, bringing rigorous critical intelligence to bear without sacrificing the sense of discovery that great literary criticism demands. Written for students and scholars alike, this volume rewards both the newcomer curious about Boccaccio or Calvino and the seasoned reader seeking a unifying critical framework — leaving one to wonder just how deeply the roots of Italian literature extend beneath every page of the Western canon.