1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910460416603321

Autore

MacPhail Eric

Titolo

Dancing around the well : the circulation of commonplaces in Renaissance humanism / / Eric M. MacPhail

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden, Netherlands : , : Brill, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

90-04-27715-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (177 p.)

Collana

Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, , 0920-8607 ; ; Volume 232

Disciplina

809/.024

Soggetti

European literature - Renaissance, 1450-1600 - Classical influences

Proverbs - History and criticism

Maxims - History and criticism

Metaphor

Clichés

Humanism in literature

Commonplace books - History

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminary Material -- Introduction: Dancing Around the Well -- 1 In the Beginning there was Chaos -- 2 A Gem in its Setting -- 3 Words Frozen and Thawed -- 4 Rhapsody in Prose -- 5 The Mosaic of Speech -- 6 The Universal Library -- 7 In a Roman Mirror -- Conclusion: Emptying the Well -- Bibliography -- Index locorum communium -- Index rerum perutilium -- Index nominum illustrium -- Index Erasmianus.

Sommario/riassunto

This study examines the transmission and transformation of commonplace wisdom in Renaissance humanism by tracing a series of filiations between classical sayings, anecdotes, and exampes and Renaissance poems, essays, and fictions. The circulation of commonplaces can be understood either as a process of reanimation and revitalization, where frozen sayings thaw out and come to life, or conversely as a process of immobilization and incrustation that



petrifies tradition. The paradigmatic figure for this process is the proverbial dance around the well, which expresses both the danger and the compulsion of borrowed speech.