Humanist Educational Treatises (The I Tatti Renaissance Library)

By Craig W. Kallendorf

Book Overview

The disciplines now known as the humanities emerged in their modern form during the Italian Renaissance as the result of an educational movement begun by humanist teachers, writers, and scholars in the early fourteenth century. These educators argued for the usefulness of classical literature as an instrument for training young men and women, not only in the arts of language and eloquence, but also in civic virtue and practical wisdom. This volume provides new translations, commissioned for the I Tatti Renaissance Library, of four of the most important theoretical statements that emerged from the early humanists efforts to reform medieval education:, Pier Paolo Vergerio, The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth, Leonardo Bruni, The Study of Literature, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), The Education of Boys, Battista Guarino, A Program of Teaching and Learning "

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674030877
• ISBN13: 9780674030879
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.5" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

A rival to Loeb?

The I Tatti Renaissance Library series follows a hard tradition when it follows the Loeb Classical library, but in the case of this collection of renaissance educational treatises, it succeeds. Kallendorf offers a readable but faithful translation to four seminal but surprisingly unavailable works (Vergerio's _The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth_, Bruni's _The Study of Literature_, Pius II's _The Education of Boys_, and Guarino's _A Program of Teaching and Learning_). The Latin text is based on previously published editions but has been carefully reconsidered. Nevertheless it does not intend to be a critical edition for the texts. Finally, with signature seams and cloth binding, this is a permanent book, but the paper and print are somewhat less fine than the older Loeb volumes.

A fascinating read

I'm not a renaissance scholar, but I really enjoy reading this series. A lot of thought has gone into the selection of works to be published under this imprint, and the result are a set of elegant books that offer a fascinating window into early modern thought. This book is a perfect example of that. Four essays about education have been translated into English, and it is amazing to discover that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some of the themes seem amazingly contemporary: the authors deal with corporal punishment (we hear both pro and con views), the importance of physical education, the errors of too much gender conditioning, and (this one made me laugh out loud because I think of it as such a modern issue) the negative effects of over-booking a child's time with extracurriculars! Anyone who is interested in the history of the theory of education will enjoy this book, or even in developing their own theory of education (for home schooling, say) will enjoy reading this book. Knowledge of Latin is not required!