Absence of Grace

Harry Berger, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Literature and Art History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the author, most recently, of Fictions of the Pose: Rembrandt Against the Italian Renaissance (Stanford, 1999).

• Preface Introduction Part I. Falling from Grace: Sprezzatura, Suspicion and the Perils of Mastication: 1. Sprezzatura and the absence of grace 2. Count Ricciardo's tiny defect 3. Galateo and the civilizing process: a short history of table manners Part II. Losing Control: The Woman Question in The Book of the Courtier: 4. A perfect gentleman: performing gynephobia in Urbino 5. A perfect lady: Pygmalion and his 'creatura' Part III. Missing Hercules: Unreliable Narrators in The Book of the Courtier and Galateo: 6. Internal distance: at home and abroad with Castiglione's author 7. Narratorial sour grapes: reading Galateo Notes Bibliography Index.

"This brilliant book presents a carefully argued set of theses about Castiglione's Il libro del Cortegiano and Della Casa's Il Galateo that should have a significant impact not only on scholarship about these two books and the courtesy book tradition of the Renaissance, but on scholarship about the Renaissance in general."—Wayne A. Rebhorn, University of Texas, Austin "This book not only fulfills the long-standing need for a comprehensive study in English of della Casa's short but powerful treatise, but it will also undoubtedly have an impact on criticism of Castiglione and of the Italian court culture similar to that of classics such as Wayne Rebhorn's Courtly Performances, J.R. Woodhouse's Balesar Castiglione: A Reassessment of 'The Courtier,' and Robert Hanning and David Rosand's edition of the influential set of essays etitled Castiglione: The Ideal and the Real in Renaissance Culture. . . . [A] praiseworthy methodological achievement."—South Atlantic Review "[The Absence of Grace] is based on extremely careful readings of the two texts, and Berger displays his familiarity with the works while including enough citations to orient the reader. This book will be most useful to students of readings and texts in the Renaissance, and it also offers a valuable perspective on the literary production of court society in early modern Europe as a whole."—Sixteenth Century Journal