Product Overview
The courtier has to imbue with grace his movements, his gestures, his way of doing things and in short, his every action
In The Book of the Courtier (1528), Baldesar Castiglione, a diplomat and Papal Nuncio to Rome, sets out to define the essential virtues for those at Court. In a lively series of imaginary conversations between the real-life courtiers to the Duke of Urbino, his speakers discuss qualities of noble behaviour chiefly discretion, decorum, nonchalance and gracefulness as well as wider questions such as the duties of a good government and the true nature of love. Castigliones narrative power and psychological perception make this guide both an entertaining comedy of manners and a revealing window onto the ideals and preoccupations of the Italian Renaissance at the moment of its greatest splendour.
George Bulls elegant translation captures the variety of tone in Castigliones speakers, from comic interjections to elevated rhetoric. This edition includes an introduction examining Castigliones career in the courts of Urbino and Mantua, a list of the historical characters he portrays and further reading.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators.
