Translating Petrarch's Poetry

Petrarch is arguably the most influential poet in Western culture. Throughout the centuries, other poets have imitated him or drawn inspiration from what they know of his work: his poetry has been discussed, set to music, illustrated, fictionalized, parodied, cannibalized. Furthermore, through translations of Petrarch, the sonnet has soared across Europe, remodelling its poetic landscape - so much so that even the most avant-garde poetry still finds itself in debt to the author of the Canzoniere.

Ranging through five centuries of translations, adaptations and imitations of the father of Humanism, this transcultural, transdisciplinary study considers the echoes of a major figure, whose reach goes beyond borders and eras to resonate singularly into our times.

Carole Birkan-Berz is Senior Lecturer in Translation and Literature at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, Guillaume Coatalen Senior Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature at the University of Cergy-Pontoise and Thomas Vuong holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the University Paris-13 (Sorbonne-Paris-Cit).