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La Cazzaria is the most outspoken erotic text of the Italian
Renaissance-a ribald dialogue about politics, sex, and desire. The
book is remarkable for its frank discussions of sexuality and
explicit homoeroticism-especially when compared to other writings
of the period-and for its sophisticated treatment of sexual and
political power.
Before Pornography explores the relationship between erotic
writing, masculinity, and national identity in Renaissance England.
Drawing on both manuscripts and printed texts, and incorporating
insights from modern feminist theory and queer studies, the book
argues that pornography is a historical phenomenon: while the
representation of sexual activity exists in nearly all cultures,
pornography does not. The book includes analyses of the social
significance of eroticism in such canonical texts as Sidney's
Defense of Poesy and Spenser's Faerie Queene.
Before Pornography explores the relationship between erotic writing, masculinity, and national identity in Renaissance England. Dealing with printed and manuscript texts, drawing on feminist theory and queer studies, it argues that pornography is a historical phenomenon, and although representation of sexual activity may exist in all cultures, pornography does not. It addresses the social significance of eroticism in such canonical texts as Sidney's Defense of Poesy and Spenser's Faerie Queene.
"La Cazzaria" is the most outspoken erotic text of the Italian
Renaissance-a ribald dialogue about politics, sex, and desire
written in 1525 by Antonio Vignali, a young Italian nobleman from
Siena. Here, in the Rabelaisian depictions of personified genitalia
and other bodily organs, a page of our sexual past is
restored.
"La Cazzaria" is at once a comic fable about bodies and desire, and
an outrageous political allegory. Composed as a dialogue between
two actual members of one of the most prestigious literary
societies of 16th-century Italy, it is organized as a series of
fifty-two questions on subjects ranging from anatomy, to
psychology, linguistics, and psychology. The text is remarkable for
its frank discussions of sexuality and explicit
homoeroticism-especially when compared to other texts of the
period-and for its sophisticated treatment of sexual and political
power. Written for circulation among a group of educated young men,
the dialogue's elitism and misogyny also offers a powerful and
often disturbing picture of early modern gender relations.
Outrageous and iconoclastic, La Cazzaria was a risque and
provocative text in its day, and remains so today. This first
English translation is extensively annotated, and the volume
includes a detailed and accessible introduction by Ian Frederick
Moulton, author of Before Pornography, which provides a historical
and intellectual context for this unfamiliar by fascinating
text.
La Cazzaria is at once a stunning literary achievement, and
essential reading for anyone interested in the history of
sexuality.
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