January 2018 Academic & Specialist Reaktion Books

Renaissance Lives

Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer Christopher S. Celenza

Renaissance Lives

Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher S. Celenza


Paperback | Dec 2022 | REAKTION BOOKS | 9781789146738 | 224pp | 216x138mm | GEN | AUD$39.99, NZD$44.99
Hardback | Jan 2018 | REAKTION BOOKS | 9781780238388 | 224pp | 216x138mm | RFB | AUD$37.99, NZD$47.99

Born in Tuscany in 1304, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Italian language. His writings inspired the Humanist movement and, subsequently, the Renaissance, but few figures are as complex or as misunderstood. 

Christopher S. Celenza provides the first general account of Petrarch's life and work in English in over thirty years, and considers how his reputation and identity have changed over the centuries. He brings to light Petrarch's unrequited love for his poetic muse, Laura, the experiences of his university years, the anti-institutional attitude he developed as he sought a path to modernity by looking toward antiquity, and his endless focus on himself.