Susan Byrne

Ficino in Spain - Toronto Iberic Susan Byrne

Commendation Quotes: Ficino in Spain sets out to correct an egregious error in the historiography of the Renaissance in Spain that has undervalued the part played by Italian Neoplatonism of the late fifteenth century. Byrne achieves that aim through persuasive arguments based on sound scholarship and a broad range of examples. - Valery Rees, School of Economic Science"Table of Contents: Introduction: Ficino and the pia philosophia in Spain1. Ficino in Spanish Libraries2. Ficino as Authority in Sixteenth-Century Spanish Letters3. Ficino as Hermes4. Persistence and Adaptation of Hermetic-Neoplatonic Imagery5. Ficino as Plato6. Persistence of Political-Economic PlatonismConclusionMarc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Commendation Quotes: Ficino in Spain is an important contribution to the study of early modern Spanish literature and culture, particularly of Italo-Spanish relationships and the development of humanism during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Byrne convincingly demonstrates in text after text how writers of poetry, fiction (such as Cervantes), drama, and many discursive genres mentioned, quoted, or disagreed with Ficino s dicta and theories. - Lia Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, The Graduate Center, City University of New York"Publisher Marketing: As the first translator of Plato s complete works into Latin, the Florentine writer Marsilio Ficino (1433 99) and his blend of Neoplatonic and Hermetic philosophy were fundamental to the intellectual atmosphere of the Renaissance. In Spain, his works were regularly read, quoted, and referenced, at least until the nineteenth century, when literary critics and philosophers wrote him out of the history of early modern Spain. In Ficino in Spain, Susan Byrne uses textual and bibliographic evidence to show the pervasive impact of Ficino s writings and translations on the Spanish Renaissance. Cataloguing everything from specific mentions of his name in major texts to glossed volumes of his works in Spanish libraries, Byrne shows that Spanish writers such as Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Bartolome de las Casas, and Garcilaso de la Vega all responded to Ficino and adapted his imagery for their own works. An important contribution to the study of Spanish literature and culture from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, Ficino in Spain recovers the role that Hermetic and Neoplatonic thought played in the world of Spanish literature."

Contributor Bio:  Byrne, Susan Susan Byrne is an associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University.