Kirjahaku

This 1965 volume was the first comprehensive study in English of the life and work of Torquato Tasso. Born in 1544, the son of a famous poet, Tasso was himself one of the greatest Italian poets. Dr Brand here reassesses his writings to illustrate the essential qualities of his poetry, and estimates his contribution to English literature on which, and in particular on Spenser and Milton, his influence was profound. Tasso is a complex and difficult writer. He was a weak man, who was easily affected by external pressures, and his greatness lay almost entirely in his writings. Dr Brand suggest how we should reconcile his poetic genius with his weakness and shows how much these external pressures - his imprisonment, the Inquisition, his critics - affected him. Students of Italian literature will welcome this book, and students of English literature will also find it an important contribution to their study.

A fashionable and well-informed interest in Italy was a feature of English intellectual life in the first half of the 19th century. Most cultured people could read Italian and knew something of Italian literature. Young ladies learned to sing in Italian, whilst young gentlemen completed their education with a tour in Italy. Painters went there to make copies from Raphael; architects to sketch the Graeco-Roman ruins. Men of letters in particular found themselves drawn to Italy and much Romantic literature reflects this interest; many works owe their origin to Italian literature. In this book, which was originally published in 1957, Dr Brand traces the growth and decline of the social fashion which made Italy the goal of so many cultured Englishmen. He examines in particular the extent and significance of Italy's fascination for the English romantic writers, and traces the effects of the fashion in music, painting, architecture and political affairs.