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Books : The Book of the Courtier (Penguin Classics)In association with Amazon.com List Price: $15.00 Amazon.com's Price: $10.20 You Save: $4.80 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 170.44 EAN: 9780140441925 ISBN: 0140441921 Label: Penguin Classics Manufacturer: Penguin Classics Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: October 28, 1976 Publisher: Penguin Classics Studio: Penguin Classics Sales Rank: 36559 Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: 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. Castiglione's 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. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A contemporary guide to behavior in the halls of powerWell, contemporary for Niccolo Machiavelli. But this book has enduring relevance for anyone who has to spend time among those courting the politically powerful. It would be easy to dismiss this as without current relevance, but that would be a clear indication of either naiveté about political life or intellectual laziness (or both). The book is formatted as a series of fictional or fictionalized discussions among the influential. This was a common style for non-fiction, from the Renaissance ... Read More Rating: - There was a CamelotThere really was a Camelot. But it was in Italy. Urbino in northern Italy to be exact, in the 1500s. Perched on top of a couple of hills in the region Le Marche, Urbino was ruled by the Montefeltro family. From 1444 to 1482 Federigo de Montefeltro skillfully steered his tiny domain through the rough storms of Italian Renaissance realpolitik. Federigo was a successful soldier of fortune yet maintained one of the largest libraries in Italy, spoke Latin, read Aristotle, helped orphans and in general ... Read More Rating: - great readThis book is a wonderful treatise on the correct way for a courtier to behave in Renaissance Italy, and indeed in court life in general throughout Western Europe. Many of Castiglione's rules of behavior were applicable for the English or French courtier as well, so by no means should we look at this work as applying merely to Italian court life. Also, from what I understand, Castiglione wrote the Book of the Courtier in 1528. That puts it in the fifteen hundreds, otherwise known as the ... Read More Rating:  - Observations about lifeObservations of life from an old world Italian gentleman. Interesting aspects of life's nuances and the corrective measures people need tot ake according to the author. Rating: - Enlightening look into Renaisance SocietyCastiglione's "Courtier" is one of many books outlining protocol and proper behavior of the sophisticated elite. It might suffice to say that he was in some way the Emily Post of his era however, it seems that this work was more far reaching than this. The Courtier is a fascinating book that is actually more useful in studying the renaissance than Machiavelli's "The Prince" (which I do recommend as well) since its detail on why people should act as proscribed is directly taken from real events and ... Read More Browse for similar items by category:
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