Three Renaissance Comedies

This volume presents English translations of three Italian Renaissance comedies not readily available to the English-speaking reader and director: Ariosto's "Lena"; Ruzante's "Posh Talk"; and Aretino's "Talanta". Of contrasting styles, they share some characteristics, which mirror the advance of all Italian literature from humanism to the Counter-Reformation, from Bembo to Sperone Speroni and from rudimentary or symbolic staging to a comparatively sophisticated realism in the treatment of stage space.