| Following
studies by Goodman, Waley, and Darst, this new study of Garcilaso's
work rejects as unfounded the traditional readings of Garcilaso's
poetry based on the idea of sincerity and the poet's frustrated love
for the Portuguese lady-in-waiting Isabel Freire. In place of the
much-abused concept of sincerity, Heiple argues that the intellectual
currents of the Renaissance are much more important for the analysis
of Garcilaso's poetry. He analyzes in Garcilaso's poetry the uses
of Renaissance concepts of mythology, poetic style, theories of love,
primitivism, and iconological traditions. Especially important in
these analyses are the poetic practices of Petrarchism as defined
by Pietro Bembo and the reaction against them proclaimed by Bernardo
Tasso.
Heiple studies each of the sonnets, tracing their roots in the
Hispanic cancionero poetry through Petrarchism and Neoplatonism
to the specific reactions against the Italian Petrarchan mode, ending
with the sonnets in imitation of the classical epigram. Several
longer poems, Canción IV, Elegy II, and Ode ad florem Gnidi,
are discussed within the contexts of Renaissance poetic conventions
and ideas, bringing to the fore Garcilaso's incisive wit. By abandoning
the traditional search for biographical elements in the love poems,
Heiple is able to bring new relevant information to the interpretation
of well-known texts and provide new readings for many of Garcilaso's
poems.
"A welcome relief from the outdated methods applied by the majority
of older works to the lyrics of one of Spain's greatest poets."—MLR
"Heiple's book is an important addition to the already extensive
critical corpus on the poetry of Garcilaso de la Vega. Scholarly,
erudite, and impeccably researched, Heiple's work attempts to place
Garcilaso and his poetry into the larger context of Renaissance
humanism. This is without question a significant contribution to
the field of Garcilaso studies as well as to the broader fields
of Renaissance studies and Italo-Hispanic literary relations. As
such, it should appeal to a wide range of literary scholars."—James
Mandrell, Brandeis University |
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