Philomen Leonelli, Petrarchan Humor: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Irony

Transcription

1 Philomen Leonelli, Petrarchan Humor: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Irony Advisors: Professors Carol Lansing and Hilary Bernstein Abstract This project focuses on Petrarch, a fourteenth-century Italian poet and moral philosopher, and his use of humor to convey his moral precepts. Scholars have typically regarded Petrarch as a serious, stoic, historical figure. Application of comedy theory, however, shows that Petrarch s Latin works, such as On his Own Ignorance, Letters of Old Age, and Remedies contain humorous elements. By using both literary and historical methodologies, a new perspective on Petrarch and his philosophical goals can be gained. Analysis of the divide between literary and historical approaches to Petrarch demonstrates why Petrarch s humor has not been discussed at length. Lecture Notes from History Honors Colloquium, May 21, 2010 Introduction Who is Petrarch? o Francesco Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch, was a fourteenth-century Italian poet and moral philosopher who has come to be known as the Father of Humanism. o His intellectual and literary accomplishments are numerous, such as: Collection and critical analysis of Classical Latin sources, especially Cicero and Virgil Which also included a Compilation of Livy s History of Rome o Standard Edition until the late 16 th century His exploration of his own subjective experience in the Secretum His invention of the sonnet in the Canzoniere Africa, his unfinished, medieval epic Letters on Familiar Matters (Rerum Familiarum Libri) Guide to the Holy Land (Itinerarium) o Today, Petrarch, perhaps much to his dismay, is best known for his Italian works, Canzoniere and Triumphs (Trionfi) Petrarch and Comedy o Scholars have typically regarded Petrarch as a serious, stoic, historical figure. However, two scholars, William Kennedy and Dilwyn Knox, have noticed that Petrarch sometimes used humor within his works, but without going into any great depth in their analysis. o Petrarch s Latin works, such as his invective, On His Own Ignorance, certainly contain humorous elements. o Petrarch used a tongue-in-cheek style of humor, exaggerating his points to a degree that can no longer be construed as serious.

2 o This style of humor serves a particular function in the transmission of these texts. Petrarch used comedy to convey precepts of his moral philosophy to his readers. The function of Petrarch s humor was quite simple; it allowed his message to be delivered to the reader with ease while enabling the reader to remember the content. o Petrarch s sense of humor was understated; in this particular context, his humor tended to be subdued, and not an extreme of comedy, such as slapstick. Amusing the reader was not Petrarch s main goal humor was a vehicle for his moral philosophy, not the purpose of the work. Petrarch s approach to humor was not that of a comedian, but of an intellectual expressing himself in a memorable way. o That s not to say Petrarch was not a stranger to overt comedy Authored Philologia Philostrati (an overtly comic work) Based on the Roman playwright, Terence The work is lost; apparently, Petrarch destroyed it. In order to understand Petrarch s comedy, we must first understand the goals of his moral philosophy-- o Petrarch s main goal was to achieve virtue ; He had two methods of attaining moral perfection. The first is Sola gratia Petrarch believed in sola gratia, salvation by grace alone, as the main method of attaining this human virtue. Sola gratia was the concept that people could only hope for grace from God; all that man could do was pray and be virtuous. And the second, rhetorical moral philosopher Petrarch believed his role as a poet, historian, rhetorician, and moral philosopher was to assist the ordinary man by exposition and exhortation to detach himself from his alienating and self destructive involvement in the affairs of the world. 1 These conflicting, yet parallel, ideas shaped Petrarch s views on the world and his role within it. o Classical figures As an additional way of presenting his moral philosophy, Petrarch drew upon a myriad of classical figures, such as Cicero, Seneca, Plato, and Socrates, to convey philosophical points. Petrarch had an interest in Cicero s efforts of moral persuasion Petrarch utilized their rhetorical methods, but not their messages, to help lead people to salvation. Comedy Basics o What s funny? Subjective experience Humor is a universal trait. It has existed in every culture, ancient and modern. It transcends language, geography, and time. Everybody laughs at something. That something may vary with the individual, but it s there 1 Charles Trinkaus, Poet as Philosopher: Petrarch and the Formation of Renaissance Consciousness (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979),

3 just the same. Everyone has a sense of humor, though it may be perceived as strange by others 2 o In order to indentify and draw out humor, intellectuals have developed theories of comedy. ---Some Examples o Incongruity theory Based off an Aristotelian idea----- humour is created out of a conflict between what is expected and what actually occurs in the joke. This accounts for the most obvious feature of much humor: an ambiguity, or double meaning, which deliberately misleads the audience, followed by a punchline. 3 A man walks into a bar ouch! The humor of this joke relies on the definition of bar o What does bar mean? What comes to mind first? Perhaps we initially assume bar to be a drinking establishment. After we hear "ouch," we are confused. How could entering a drinking establishment hurt? No answer immediately comes to mind, so we re-examine our initial assumption. We then ask ourselves, What if the bar is actually an extended piece of solid material and the man literally walked into it? o We realize that our second assumption seems to be the best explanation and the intent of the speaker was to exploit the ambiguity of bar for humorous effect. o Socratic irony Petrarch used a specific type or sub-genera of incongruity theory called Socratic irony. Socratic irony is Socrates irritating tendency to praise his hearers while undermining them, or to disparage his own superior abilities while manifesting them. 4 Petrarch uses Socratic irony as a literary device to emphasize certain philosophical points by feigning ignorance in order to contradict himself later with his achieved knowledge. Petrarch uses a paradigm; he fakes ignorance, then immediately demonstrates his knowledge with an outlandish statement, typically requiring some specialized knowledge. Thersites and On His Own Ignorance o In Petrarch s invective, On His Own Ignorance, his assertions of his own self-worth contradict his own purported modesty, thus creating a humorous tone. 2 Frank J. MacHovec, Humor: Theory, History, Applications (Springfield, Ill., U.S.A.: C.C. Thomas, 1988), 3. 3 Alison Ross, The Language of Humour (London & New York: Routledge, 1998), 7. 4 The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, s.v. socratic irony.

4 For example, in Petrarch s discussion of envy, he claims not to understand why his friends are jealous of him. Petrarch explores his friends desire, asking himself if they are jealous of his possessions, knowledge, eloquence, virtue, or reputation. After a verbose examination of the possibilities, he finally concludes that his reputation is what his friends truly desire. Following several attempts to show how modest his reputation is, he finally identifies himself with Thersites, a character from the Trojan cycle, specifically from book two of the Iliad. Petrarch proclaims, Those guys love me and all my things, besides the one name, which I do not refuse to change; let me be called Thersites or Choerilus, anything else they prefer. Or if I should thus obtain [it], there should not be any deep exception from their quite honest affection. 5 o The specialized knowledge needed is needed to understand this joke o Who is Thersites? A Character from Book 2 of the Illiad Thersites was an ugly, old, non-noble soldier who dared to make his opinion known concerning the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles. Thersites called Agamemnon greedy and Achilles a coward. His dialogue highlights the soldiers struggle for their own voice in a war that is not their own, whilst the Greek soldiers watch their leaders bicker over a woman (Briseis). He had no authority to make such judgment or claim, especially against a Kings. Odysseus then beat him with his scepter to silence him. Nevertheless, he remains the only character in the Iliad wise and brave enough to question the authority of his betters. Petrarch exploits the use of double meanings. As he was one of the most well-read people of his time, Petrarch s identification with Thersites is an example of Petrarch s utilization of his classical knowledge to create the intentional ambiguity required for irony. Cleverly, Petrarch s use of Thersites character leaves two vague elements hidden within the text. If the reader is unable to recognize Thersites, the humor is lost. o Socratic Irony he feigns ignorance, then immediately demonstrates his knowledge with an outlandish statement(therisites) Petrarch s struggle between sola gratia and his role as rhetorical moral philosopher is evident in his discussion of envy. In the example, Petrarch claims that he does not want envy or fame, but then humorously professes otherwise. Petrarch realizes that in a perfect, virtuous world, fame and envy are useless and bothersome, but in reality, he finds the envy and fame irresistible. He coveys his moral message through Thersites, a Classical character. Conclusion o Petrarch s ultimate goal was to save souls, including his own, at whatever cost. Used comedy to do so o Medieval Reception? The answer to this question is unknown. There is not enough evidence to study a comedic reception; Medieval and Renaissance writers are silent concerning 5 Francis Petrarch, Invectives, trans. David Marsh (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 236. Amant isti me et mea omnia, preter unum nomen, quod mutare non renuo, ut Thersites dicar aut Choerilus, uel siquid aliud malunt.

5 this issue. A probable cause for this apparent silence is his emphasis on moral philosophy. Because Petrarch s humor functions as a method of transmission and is not the focal point of the texts, his moral philosophy overshadows the comedy. The purpose of these texts was not to delight, but to lead readers to virtue. Readers, perhaps unfamiliar with Petrarch s intellectual style of humor, could have read and understood his moral philosophy without recognizing the literary constructions or interpreting the constructions as funny. Perhaps some authors did interpret these works as funny, but they would not prove or even suggest that all of Petrarch s readers got the joke. o Modern Scholarly Reception Also Ignores Petrarch s Humor Why? Divide in disciplines The divide between historical and literary approaches to Petrarch is a major contributing factor. Historians describe Petrarch as a dry, cocky intellectual, while literary scholars portray him as a deep, longing, and emotional poet Quillen-----Two Petrarchs These two approaches to Petrarch one historical, the other based on contemporary literary theory tend to divide students of Petrarch along disciplinary lines; scholarly literature has produced in effect two Petrarchs, one the Father of humanism the other a gifted vernacular poet 6 Trinkaus comments similarly I do not believe that Petrarch s work and career as a poet should be thought of and studied separately from his role as a humanist. And yet the bifurcation between his Italian Canzoniere and his Latin prose works, together with the sad isolation of literature and history departments (not to mention philosophy, which too often disdains the past in all its aspects), has traditionally imposed such a division. 7 o My goal with this piece is to further reconcile the differences between the Petrarchs by (comically, perhaps) applying literary theory and showing its relevance to the transmission of these particular works. After applying comedy theory to Petrarch s works, his voice within the texts is unmistakable. Petrarch, in fact, manipulated his voice for his own purposes. Using comedy, he accentuated and changed his tone to affect the delivery of his moral philosophy. o For far too long, we, as scholars, have stood divided on our approach to Petrarch. His poetic qualities interacted fully with his rhetoric and intellectual thought processes; neither existed on its own. Historical and literary should not be antonyms; a middle ground must exist. The gap is too big be bridged by a single thesis, nevertheless, a nudge toward a collective, scholarly approach to Petrarch is appropriate. A redefined approach can combine both historical and literary methodologies, and perhaps adopt consistent descriptors to portray him: scholar, poet, moral philosopher, Italian linguist, Latin linguist, classical imitator, humanist, traveler, Christian, Pagan, Italian, and Roman. 6 Carol Quillen, Rereading the Renaissance (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998), Trinkaus, Poet as Philosopher, x.