CMEMS: Sarah Prodan (Italian)

Organized and hosted by the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMEMS).

Sarah Prodan (Italian) will give a talk titled "Michelangelo’s Phenomenology of Love."

An "Embodiment" Paper

This essay on the eye and the gaze in the poetry of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) aims to clarify his understanding of vision and discernment by considering allusions faculty psychology in his Rime. Through an examination of the estimative faculty and descriptions of it in his verse, this article elucidates the judging process of the human mind, the relation it bears to freedom and choice, and the theological anthropology it presupposes. Exploring multiple poetic forms, and serious as well as ludic verses, this study, titled "From Lover’s Glance to Pilgrim’s Gaze: Vision and Discernment in Michelangelo’s Rime," re-confirms the importance of Dante (1265–1321) and of fifteenth-century writers for Michelangelo as it proffers more nuanced interpretations of well- and lesser-known texts in his corpus.

Responses by Hannah Johnston and Marisa Galvez.

The CMEMS Workshop series meets most Wednesdays during the academic year. See the CMEMS website for the list of upcoming speakers.