In-person and virtual; link forthcoming.
Thomas More’s Utopia in the Italian Renaissance
More’s Utopia had a significant impact on the Italian Renaissance, but the history of its reception has largely been overlooked. In an influential article, Eric Nelson argues that Utopia was ignored by Italian humanists and was taken up by the poligrafi, who interpreted it as a rejection of Roman ideals. However, Nelson’s choice to concentrate on only a few texts and failure to consider several relevant ones undermines his conclusion. A more comprehensive examination of the works Utopia directly influenced shows that the distinctiveness of its Italian Renaissance reception lies in its multifaceted nature. During the Italian Renaissance, Utopia was not only edited twice and translated into the vernacular but also “used” creatively. It was imitated, included in a literary game, evaluated, and inserted into longer works. The intellectuals who engaged with Utopia were a heterogeneous group: humanists, philosophers, and poligrafi. Because of their different intellectual inclinations, they focused on various aspects of More’s many-sided text. Some favored its ironic dimension, others concentrated on its social-political critique, and a few privileged its exploration of the best commonwealth. These ways of understanding Utopia led its Italian imitators to experiment with a variety of literary genres, from travel narratives to Ciceronian dialogues, “eccentric” centones, and literary extravaganzas. Examining the Italian Renaissance reception of Utopia sheds light on a neglected topic and reveals the vast literary and conceptual potential of More’s text.
