Saturday, October 2, 2010

Three for One for Free

Local scholar Ann Mullaney takes us back to the Italian Renaissance. She will discuss her work translating Teofilo Folengo, an extraordinary writer who lived at the same time as Machiavelli and Michelangelo--Sunday, October 10, 4:00pm, at Magers & Quinn. Folengo is best known for the epic poem Baldo, named for its protaganist. Baldo is a smalltown thug with the heart of a knight. He and his ragtag band of friends drink and gamble, and fight police, pirates, witches, and demons.

In 1527, Teofilo Folengo published a fascinating semi-autobiographical book called the Chaos of Triperuno ("Three-in-One"). We meet the protagonist at his conception, and witness his development as he struggles to form a single coherent self from among Folengo's other established selves: Merlino (bon vivant bard, homosexual, prophet, priest and author of the epic Baldo and polemical letters, etc.); Limerno (feisty heterosexual court troubadour, author of the 1525 Orlandino); and Fulica (theologian, celibate hermit). These personae hold lively discussions on the meaning of life, love, fame, sex, language and much more.

Folengo's work has long been unavailable to readers of English. Ann Mullaney published the first English translation in 2007 as part of the I Tatti Renaissance Library from Harvard University Press. For more information, visit www.teofilofolengo.com.--David E

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