Canto XXVI

This lecture focuses on three main aspects concerning the 26th canto of the Orlando furioso: intertesxtual connections with Boiardo's Inamoramento de Orlando, Ariosto's view of contemporary politics, and some stylistic remarks. Ariosto's treatment of his most relevant forerunner is somehow ambiguous and quite dialectic. A huge part of the canto consists of a rich ekphrasis which represents the Italian political landscape from 1516 to 1532: many of the rulers named in the text will owe their celebrity to Ariosto's stanzas and will remembered exactly in the same words for a long time. A stylistical survey shoes some significant improvements from 1516 to 1532 and confirms the importance of Dante among sources of the Furioso.