364 Italian Bookshelf - Ibiblio

“Italian Bookshelf” Annali d’ italianistica 24 (2006) 393
Mercurian and Acquaviva to codify the missionary directives for the Society with the
goal of establishing confraternities as an important way of delivering the Christian
message, initially to less Christianized areas of Italy.
Lazar’s work amplifies the innovations of Jesuit involvement in lay charity during
the first phases of Catholic reform. It carefully states its conclusions in the context of
scholarship and of the broader historical developments. Given that Ignatius and his
Society sought to endow these institutions with a good deal of independence from Jesuit
control, it is not surprising if, at times, the Jesuit imprint on the institutions becomes lost
in the narrative. One would like to hear more, too, about the admixture of secular and
spiritual motivations among the supporters of these initiatives, in terms of social prestige
or financial security. Finally, since Ignatius’s work commenced in Rome, it would be
interesting to see how these confraternal foundations offer a perspective on the relation
between Jesuits and other clergy, one that was never easy, particularly with regard to
their missionary activity. These requests speak more to the book’s broad scope and detail
than to its limitations.
Timothy Kircher, Guilford College
Anna Fontes Baratto, ed. De qui, de quoi se moque-t-on? Rire et dérision à la
Renaissance. Études réunies et présentées par Anna Fontes Baratto. Cahiers de la
Renaissance Italienne 5. Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2004. Pp. 196.
The volume contains six essays, preceded by a preface and followed by a list of
illustrations as well as an index of names cited. Anna Fontes Baratto prefaces the
collection: she first valorizes the study of the comic in light of earlier critics, then states,
“[...] le comique est toujours, en Italie, un fait de langage, même lorsqu’il se met en scène
comme comique de situation” (10), since Italian’s chronological and geographical
varieties can create varying registers in any discourse that allow for humor.
“Discourse” in its multiple senses indeed links the essays in the volume, where
discourse is first analyzed in Machiavelli’s Mandragola. Jean-Claude Zancarini begins
“‘Ridere delli errori delli huomini.’ Politique et comique chez Machiavel, de la
Mandragore au Prince,” with examples from Machiavelli’s letters in order to
demonstrate the author’s sense of humor. Through the Mandragola, Zancarini then
demonstrates Machiavelli’s mastery of earlier works and his mischievous reiteration of
his own philosophy of the Prince.
Anna Fontes Barrato’s essay, “Le bouffon et le courtisan,” will interest English
language readers for its distinctions between buffoon and fool (41). Sacchetti’s Gonnella
becomes the “bras comique du seigneur et […] image métaphorique du narrateur […]”
(42). Castiglione’s characters, Fra’ Serafino and Fra’ Mariano, are clearly not mad, as
demonstrated by the descriptions of madness in the Cortegiano. Fra’ Mariano at the same
period played a role in practical jokes at the court of the Florentine Leo X (Giovanni de’
Medici) in Rome, as narrated in ambassadorial dispatches, but not in the Cortegiano.
Fontes Barrato suggests that the role of courtesan and buffoon can overlap: the
reproachful silence of the masked figure plays the same role as the courtier called upon to
be the voice of truth (62). Throughout the article, the reader senses a larger argument, and
Fontes Barrato in her first note refers to a longer work in progress (42).
Corrine Lucas’s “La chute des idoles. Figures de l’anti-héroïsme à Ferrare à
l’époque de l’Arioste” is followed by photo reproductions of the works discussed. The