Oralising Early Modern Italian Literature

How and how far did orality play a part in the circulation of literature in early modern Italy? A lecture by Professor Brian Richardson. The literary culture of the period can be seen, in the terms of Walter Ong, as ‘residually oral’, since many kinds of compositions were diffused through the voice, in speech or song, as well as, or rather than, in writing. This paper will consider which kinds of texts might be performed, the occasions on which they were performed in public or in private, the professionals or amateurs who performed them, how and in which varieties of languages they were performed, using evidence from contemporary accounts and from the texts themselves. It will also suggest possible answers to the more difficult question of what the perceived benefits of performance might have been for the performer and the audience.

You can listen to Oralising Early Modern Italian Literature online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Oralising Early Modern Italian Literature is an episode from Keble College by Oxford University.

This episode is 57:57 long.

This episode was published on Jun 16, 2014.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Keble College when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.