The ambassador and the courtesan : political bodies in Renaissance Italy / Paola De Santo.

Format:

Book

Series:

Early modern exchange

The early modern exchange

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ambassadors--Italy--History--To 1500.

Ambassadors.

Ambassadors--Italy--History--16th century.

Courtesans--Italy--History--To 1500.

Courtesans.

Courtesans--Italy--History--16th century.

Renaissance--Italy.

Renaissance.

Italy--Court and courtiers--History--To 1500.

Italy.

Italy--Court and courtiers--History--16th century.

Physical Description:

x, 239 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm.

Distribution:

New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 2026.

Place of Publication:

Newark : University of Delaware Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Drawing on literature, legal texts, and archival materials, The Ambassador and the Courtesan offers a comparative analysis of these two emerging roles in the early modern period and in Renaissance Italian society. While these two figures may appear unrelated, this book demonstrates their shared relation to the body politic, including the relationship of their very bodies to that metaphorical body. One imagines the early modern ambassador as traveling from one center of power to another, gathering news and disseminating it in writing, as well as negotiating in person. The courtesan, in contrast, is normally imagined employing her body in the service of entertaining elite clients in the enclosed space of the urban salon. These characterizations reinforce their very different roles in Renaissance Italian society and culture, but by placing them in dialogue, salient points of convergence emerge detailing how they were integral to the concurrent emergence of a modern subjectivity of the individual and the formation of the modern state"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781644534151

1644534150

9781644534168

1644534169

OCLC:

1514660051

Publisher Number:

90103436835