Allegory of the self: Boccaccio's Buccolicum carmen

Thesis

This thesis sets out to provide an interdisciplinary study of four of the sixteen hexameter poems in Giovanni Boccaccio’s pastoral Buccolicum carmen (ca. 1362/63). It argues that the Buccolicum is a coherent book of poetry that displays an allegory of Boccaccio’s autofictional self, constructed through different bucolic characters and themes which symbolise different fragments of Boccaccio, as well as different steps in his literary and ethical ascent. Consequently, it intends to dispel the unhelpful dichotomy between autobiography and fiction which has dominated most commentaries and studies on the Buccolicum. It also investigates the place of the Buccolicum (Boccaccio’s only book of Latin poetry) in his literary career. Reflecting Boccaccio’s theoretical approach towards pagan literature, developed especially in the Genealogie deorum gentilium (ca. 1359–74), the Buccolicum engages with the classical tradition, and particularly with Virgil’s Eclogues, to support an autofictional narrative of conversion. In the wake of Petrarch’s own Bucolicum carmen, Boccaccio presents the pastoral world as the earthly world of temporary pleasures, sin and sorrow. In sum, the present study aims to provide a thorough examination of a selection of four of Boccaccio’s eclogues, each focusing on one key theme of the Buccolicum (love, politics, poetry, and religion). At the same time, this thesis scrutinizes the processes of reception, mediation and allusion to classical texts which shed light on Boccaccio’s bucolic autofiction, as well as on the classical texts themselves.

Authors: De Oliveira Fonseca Junior, A

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: literary careers; Virgil; Trecento; reception studies; Buccolicum carmen; intertextuality; pastoral; Eclogues; Giovanni Boccaccio; self-fashioning; autofiction
• Subjects: Classical literature; Pastoral poetry; Italian literature; Literature, Medieval