Rhetorical Renaissance

Kathy Eden reveals the unexplored classical rhetorical theory at the heart of iconic Renaissance literary works. Kathy Eden explores the intersection of early modern literary theory and practice. She considers the rebirth of the rhetorical artresulting from the rediscovery of complete manuscripts of high-profile ancient texts about rhetoric by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and Tacitus, all unavailable before the early fifteenth centuryand the impact of this art on early modern European literary production. This profound influence of key principles and practices on the most widely taught early modern literary texts remains largely and surprisingly unexplored. Devoting four chapters to these practiceson status, refutation, similitude, and styleEden connects the architecture of the most widely read classical rhetorical manuals to the structures of such major Renaissance works as Petrarchs Secret, Castigliones Book of the Courtier, Erasmuss Antibarbarians and Ciceronianus, and Montaignes Essays. Eden concludes by showing how these rhetorical practices were understood to work together to form a literary masterwork, with important implications for how we read these texts today.