Stephen Kershner

In Petrarch's Africa: a 21st century English translation with notes, I aim to improve access to one of Renaissance Humanism's greatest literary works in Latin for a wider English-reading audience, while illuminating the depth and quality of Petrarch's intertextual style and interests through judicious and pointed notes. In order to accomplish these tasks, I will emphasize a 21st century idiom, balancing the line between the spirit and letter of Petrarch's Latin in a diction recognizable and understandable in today's broader English-speaking world. Additionally, I will complete a thorough notation of the work, elucidating not only characters and places as found in the text, but also the subtle allusions and intertexts to both Classical and Renaissance literary tradition.