%0 Journal Article
%T The Representation of Petrarch in the Eighteenth-century <i>Encyclop¨¦die</i>
%A Ana-Maria M'Enesti
%J Humanist Studies & the Digital Age
%D 2011
%I University of Oregon Libraries
%R 10.5399/uo/hsda.1.1.1201
%X The colossal project of the Encyclop¨¦die (1751-1772), directed by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d¡¯Alembert, aimed to create, as Voltaire contends, ¡°a repository of all sciences and arts,¡± therefore establishing itself as the point of reference for literature, sciences, arts and crafts. This pretentious ambition contrasts in direct proportion with the peripheral depiction of Francis Petrarch. Although they acknowledge Petrarch¡¯s poetic talent and innovation, the authors of the Encyclop¨¦die confine the Tuscan poet within the French poetical tradition. This gesture of appropriating what is exterior to the French image can be partly justified by the objective of the encyclop¨¦distes to design a venue where a homogenous French identity can emerge. This paper attempts to track¡ªby exploring various articles in the Encyclop¨¦die along with their ramifications in other published works of the period¡ªthe ambivalent reception and portrayal of the Italian poet and humanist.
%K Petrarch
%K Encyclop¨¦die
%K Louis de Jaucourt
%U http://journals.oregondigital.org/hsda/article/view/1201