N. 2 (2018): Epistolari dal Due al Seicento. Modelli, questioni ecdotiche, edizioni, cantieri aperti
Contributi individuali

"Sempre di natura pigro e negligentissimo nello scrivere". Le lettere di Francesco Maria Molza

Giovanni Ferroni
Università degli Studi di Padova
In copertina: Cornelis Norbertus Gysbrechts, Quodlibet, 1675: olio su tela, 41 x 34,5 cm; Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Colonia; pubblico dominio

Pubblicato 22.12.2018

Parole chiave

  • Italian Renaissance Literature,
  • Letters writing,
  • Francesco Maria Molza,
  • Annibal Caro,
  • Fortune

Abstract

Starting from a review of the recent publication of Francesco Maria Molza’s letters edited by Andrea Barbieri (Padova, 2014), this paper offers a reading of the Modenese poet and humanist’s remaining correspondence. The paper contemplates Molza’s approach to the epistolary genre itself and Molza’s own consciousness not only of the literary and communicative importance of his letter-writing but also of its practical limitations and the inconvenience it caused, especially because it was considered a social duty. This line of attack enables the author to reconstruct a sort of ‘counter-poetic’ of the letters writing that Molza shared with Annibal Caro. The final section comments on Molza’s thoughts in the letters he sent to his son Camillo, which make up the most part of the collection, and especially his thoughts on the idea of “fortune”.