Past Event

Abstract:

Why did the Italian Renaissance create so much beauty, and so many geniuses and polymaths? In this talk, Perissinotto shall encounter renowned geniuses, such as Leonardo da Vinci, as well as other Renaissance polymaths. She will attempt to find answers to the question above: why the preponderance of beauty in Renaissance art and cities, who were some of the polymaths of the Italian Renaissance, and why did this historical period produce so many?

Bio:

Cristina Perissinotto is an Italian Canadian scholar and a poet. At the University of Ottawa she is both an associate professor of Italian Studies, and the director of the Italian Program. In April 2016, she became President of the Canadian Association of Italian Studies.

Perissinotto holds a laurea in political philosophy from the University of Venice, an MA in medieval history and a PhD in Italian literature from the University of Illinois. Her research interests

revolve around the crossroad of literature, philosophy and politics.

She has published three poetry collections: Tigers and the CEO (Guernica, Fall 2014), Exhale, Exale, (Guernica, 2010) and Taprobana Tea (Campanotto, Udine 2010), and is presently working on a manuscripts on political theater and another on possible worlds.

Alongside Patrizia Piredda, Perissinotto has published an edited book on ethics and theater: La dimensione etica nel teatro italiano contemporaneo (Napoli, Guida, 2018).

Moreover, with Charles Klopp, she co-edited Cronache dal cielo stretto (Forum, 2013), on writers of the Italian Northeast, as well as Mediterranoesis, on the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.