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Podcast: New Books in Italian Studies
Episode: Corrado Confalonieri, "Torquato Tasso and the Desire for Unity: 'Jerusalem Delivered' and a New Theory of the Epic" (Carocci editore, 2022)
Description: A form at the origins of Western literature, the epic has always been theorized in contrast to other literary genres, those that would either perfect it (such as tragedy, according to Aristotle) or partially take its place, from the chivalric romance to the modern novel. Corrado Confalonieri's Torquato Tasso and the Desire for Unity: Jerusalem Delivered and a New Theory of the Epic (Torquato Tasso e il desiderio di unitĂ : âLa Gerusalemme liberataâ e una nuova teoria dellâepica) critically traces three different historical phases in the theorization of the epic: the classical poetics of Aristotle and Horace, the...