Abstract
This essay examines lyric verse (particularly the sonnet) from the Hispanic Renaissance and the Baroque and shows how male and female poets exploited Neoplatonic discourse as a means of thinking about — and thinking beyond — the boundaries of gender identity. Among the poets discussed are Francisco de Aldana (1537-1578), Catalina Clara Ramírez de Guzmán (1611-c. 1680), and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695). Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of the Courtier and Leone Ebreo’s Dialogues on Love provide a further frame for the analysis of gendered discourse of Neoplatonic love. The paper concludes with some general methodological remarks about the significance of Neoplatonism as a cross-cultural phenomenon. To understand how it travels across cultures is to acknowledge its ideological potential to stage boundary crossings and negotiate differences of many kinds.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Faces of the Infinite: |
| Subtitle of host publication | Neoplatonism and Poetics at the Confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe |
| Editors | Stefan Sperl, Trevor Dadson, Yorgos Dedes |
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | British Academy |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2019 |
Keywords
- gender difference
- Neoplatonism
- Hispanic love sonnets