{"product_id":"pietro-bembo-on-etna-the-ascent-of-a-venetian-humanist-paperback","title":"Pietro Bembo on Etna: The Ascent of a Venetian Humanist - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGareth D. Williams\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is centered on the Venetian humanist Pietro Bembo (1470-1547), on his two-year stay in Sicily in 1492-4 to study the ancient Greek language under one of its most distinguished contemporary teachers, the Byzantine émigré Constantine Lascaris, and above all on his ascent of Mount Etna in 1493. The more particular focus of this study is on the imaginative capacities that crucially shape Bembo's elegantly crafted account, in Latin, of his Etna adventure in his so-called \u003cem\u003eDe Aetna\u003c\/em\u003e, published at the Aldine press in Venice in 1496. This work is cast in the form of a dialogue that takes place between the young Bembo and his father Bernardo (himself a prominent Venetian statesman with strong humanist involvements) after Pietro's return to Venice from Sicily in 1494. But \u003cem\u003eDe Aetna \u003c\/em\u003eoffers much more than a one-dimensional account of the facts, sights and findings of Pietro's climb. Far more important in the present study is his eye for creative elaboration, or for transforming his\u003cbr\u003eliteral experience on the mountain into a meditation on his coming-of-age at a remove from the conventional career-path expected of one of his station within the Venetian patriciate. Three mutually informing features that are critical to the artistic originality of \u003cem\u003eDe Aetna\u003c\/em\u003e receive detailed treatment in this study: (i) the stimulus that Pietro drew from the complex history of Mount Etna as treated in the Greco-Roman literary tradition from Pindar onwards; (ii) the striking novelty of \u003cem\u003eDe Aetna\u003c\/em\u003e's status as the first Latin text produced at the nascent Aldine press in the prototype of what modern typography knows as Bembo typeface; and (iii) Pietro's ingenious deployment of Etna as a powerful, multivalent symbol that simultaneously reflects the diverse characterizations of, and the generational differences between, father and son in the course of their dialogical exchanges within \u003cem\u003eDe Aetna\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGareth D. Williams\u003c\/strong\u003e is Violin Family Professor of Classics, Columbia University. His previous OUP publications include \u003cem\u003eThe Cosmic Viewpoint \u003c\/em\u003e(2016) and\u003cem\u003e Roman Reflections \u003c\/em\u003e(with Katharina Volk, 2015).\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 440\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.2 x 9.3 x 6.16 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 01, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42160431497351,"sku":"9780197603185","price":83.77,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/034c7b9a5cb79082c6bac8365246654c.webp?v=1733274092","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/pietro-bembo-on-etna-the-ascent-of-a-venetian-humanist-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}