The Bizarre Muse: The Literary Persona of Margherita Costa

Goethals, Jessica

doi:10.1353/emw.2017.0047

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In merito alla vita e all'opera di Margherita Costa cfr. : (Bianchi 1924(Bianchi y 1925; (Megale 1988); (Salvi 2004); (Costa-Zalessow 2010, 2015; (Coller 2017); (García Aguilar 2017; (Goethals 2017(Goethals , 2020; (Piantoni 2017(Piantoni , 2018; (Di Maro 2019, 2020; (De Liso 2020; (Marongiu 2021); (Merola 2021); (Stella 2021).…”

Section: La Selva DI Cipressi Di Margherita Costaunclassified

Dolore, sventura e morte ne La selva di cipressi di Margherita Costa

Aguilar

2023

Estud. rom.

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In the 17th century, the so-called lugubrious poetry constituted both a thematic and expressive renewal of the centuries-old Petrarchan tradition. From this moment on, lamenting the death of illustrious figures became one of the fixed themes characteristic of Baroque poetic anthologies. Margherita Costa's Selva di Cipressi is a clear example of this literary style. This poetic collection combines encomiastic poems composed for the death of illustrious personages of the time with other bucolic compositions. This contribution proposes an analysis not only of the lyrical style that Costa employs in her work, but also examines the socio-political and cultural context of the Medici Court that the Roman poetess wanted to show the 17th century audience. Nel corso del XVII secolo, la poesia detta lugubre costituì sia dal punto di vista tematico che espressivo un vero rinnovamento della secolare tradizione petrarchesca. A partire da questo momento, il lamento per la morte di personaggi illustri si considerò una delle tematiche fisse caratteristiche delle antologie poetiche barocche. La Selva di Cipressi di Margherita Costa è un chiaro esempio di questo stile letterario. Questa raccolta poetica mette insieme poemi encomiastici composti per la morte di personaggi illustri dell’epoca con altri componimenti di argomento bucolico. Il presente contributo propone un’analisi non solo dello stile lirico che Costa impiega nella sua opera, ma prende in esame anche il contesto socio-politico e culturale della Corte medicea che la poetessa romana voleva mostrare al pubblico del XVII secolo. Nel corso del XVII secolo, la poesia detta lugubre costituì sia dal punto di vista tematico che espressivo un vero rinnovamento della secolare tradizione petrarchesca. A partire da questo momento, il lamento per la morte di personaggi illustri si considerò una delle tematiche fisse caratteristiche delle antologie poetiche barocche. La Selva di Cipressi di Margherita Costa è un chiaro esempio di questo stile letterario. Questa raccolta poetica mette insieme poemi encomiastici composti per la morte di personaggi illustri dell’epoca con altri componimenti di argomento bucolico. In un tono più grave, invece, Costa espone il dolore di un’Italia devastata dall’oppressione degli stati di Casa Savoia e racconta la sua sventurata vita sotto il finto nome di Elisa. Il presente contributo propone un’analisi non solo dello stile lirico che Costa impiega nella sua opera, ma prende in esame anche il contesto socio-politico e culturale che la poetessa romana voleva mostrare al pubblico del XVII secolo.

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Section: La Selva DI Cipressi Di Margherita Costaunclassified

Dolore, sventura e morte ne La selva di cipressi di Margherita Costa

Aguilar

2023

Estud. rom.

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“…47 Jessica Goethals has recently shown how Costa's engagement with contemporary baroque literary trends; her cultivation of patronage networks; and self-representation as a 'bizarre' writer, were key strategies in her successful negotiation of this antagonistic climate. 48 But Costa's tactics would have been less compatible with Marinella's reputation as a decorous and 'respectable' woman writer. Instead, I suggest that the rhetoric of insinuatio offered Marinella an authoritative intellectual strategy to negotiate this antagonism and continue to challenge patriarchal bias.…”

Section: Exhorting Marital Harmony Insinuating Feminist Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

Insinuatio in Lucrezia Marinella’s Essortationi alle donne (1645): Exhorting Marital Harmony And Insinuating Feminist Critique

Sinclair

2019

Renaissance Studies

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Lucrezia Marinella (c.1579–1653) is a pivotal figure in the history of early modern women’s writing. Yet her final non‐fiction contribution to the querelle des femmes, a book of exhortations for women entitled Essortationi alle donne (1645), has received little critical attention. The Essortationi’s ostensibly conservative volte face on the feminist principles that characterise the author’s earlier works has perplexed and divided modern scholars. This article provides a new reading of the Essortationi drawing on the classical rhetorical technique of insinuatio. Through close textual analysis of Marinella’s exhortation to marital harmony as an example, I trace the author’s rhetorical posture of deference to traditional authorities and ideas about marriage and the wife’s role. I show how, as an exercise in insinuatio, this works to ingratiate her audience and mitigate resistance before exposing those authorities and precepts to critical scrutiny. Contextualising the Essortationi within mid‐Seicento Venice reveals how this strategy responded to a cultural climate defined by antifeminism and literary dissimulation. This article both sheds new light on Marinella’s complex, ground‐breaking contribution to the male‐authored Renaissance conduct literature tradition and reveals the sophistication of her rhetoric as she challenges women’s subordination to male authority.

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“… 115 See, for instance, Costa, 1639b, 292: “Damn my indirect style / … / damn my speaking with my own words, / damn my bizarreness.” For a discussion of this and other examples, see Goethals. …”

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confidence: 99%

The Patronage Politics of Equestrian Ballet: Allegory, Allusion, and Satire in the Courts of Seventeenth-Century Italy and France

Goethals

2017

Renaiss. Q.

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Equestrian ballet was a spectacular genre of musical theater popular in the Baroque court. A phenomenon with military roots, the ballet communicated both the might and grace of its organizers, who often played starring roles. This essay explores the ballet’s centrality by tracing the itinerant opera singer and writer Margherita Costa’s use of the genre as a means of securing elite patronage: from an elegant manuscript libretto presented to Grand Duke Ferdinando II de’ Medici and later revised in print for Cardinal Jules Mazarin in Paris, to occasional poetry written for the Barberini in Rome, and even burlesque caricatures.

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The Bizarre Muse: The Literary Persona of Margherita Costa

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

Dolore, sventura e morte ne La selva di cipressi di Margherita Costa

Dolore, sventura e morte ne La selva di cipressi di Margherita Costa

Insinuatio in Lucrezia Marinella’s Essortationi alle donne (1645): Exhorting Marital Harmony And Insinuating Feminist Critique

The Patronage Politics of Equestrian Ballet: Allegory, Allusion, and Satire in the Courts of Seventeenth-Century Italy and France

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