CMT Lunchtime Seminar

Monday 7 March 2011, Board Room, Faculty of English

Authors Under Press(ure): Italian Renaissance Texts between Printing Constraints and Public Demand

Speakers: Prof. Antonio Sorella (University G. D’Annunzio Chieti Pescara) and Prof. Michelangelo Zaccarello (University of Verona)

The first half of the sixteenth century sees a dramatic expansion of the printing industry in Italy: a highly competitive market and an articulate, growing range of readers create a unique intertwining of philological and linguistic issues. The vitality of regional literatures and the ongoing need for an established grammar are factors that force publishers to hire professional editors and proof-readers to produce texts that may be palatable to the widest possible audience. Authors take different approaches to the problem, either permitting such professionals to execute a thoroughgoing revision (Aretino), or personally overlooking and assisting the composition and printing process (Ariosto). The resulting variety of textual profiles makes this period a unique challenge for textual editors, especially in the field of tipofilologia (textual bibliography). A few relevant case studies will be briefly introduced.