Leaving aside Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio—the three exceptional figures of the Italian Trecento—Antonio Pucci (b. c. 1310–d. 1388) is perhaps the most notable writer of the literary Florentine landscape of that period. His abundant production includes an astonishing variety of genres and themes and reveals his alertness in tuning in with new trends in literary expression; his language is fascinating for its richness and spontaneity, and for its proximity to the oral means of communication; and his temperament reveals a passionate connection to the political and social aspects of his city. The scholars of the late 1800s studied and appreciated Pucci as a “popular” writer, one that expressed in simple and sincere ways the sentiments of the Florentine middle and lower classes, commonly pointing out, however, the poverty of his style and his absence from the incipient humanist revolution. In his overview of autobiographical, gnomic, political, and popular poetry (Critica 29 [1931]: 241–263), Benedetto Croce (followed by later critics) presented him as a popular journalist, thinking no doubt of the serventesi in which he narrated and commented the major events that marked the life of the Commune (e.g., the flood of 1333, the rise and fall of a seigneurial regime, various episodes of the war between Florence and Pisa, the plague of 1348). Over the last hundred years, a number of scholars have paid greater attention to his writings, collecting anthologies of his lyrics and providing editions of single works. Interestingly enough, some critical editions (Le Noie, Contrasto delle donne, Sonnets) were first produced in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. This critical attention also enhanced Pucci’s cultural status: scholars began to gather evidence of Pucci’s familiarity with Boccaccio, and highlighted his important role as a mediator between elite and popular culture. New editions of his cantari appeared, and new works were more or less persuasively attributed to him. More recently, Pucci’s writings have also been taken into account to explore issues related to gender studies, particularly in North America. To delve into Pucci’s writings, and correctly circumscribe them, a great portion of the research has been devoted to manuscript studies. The last section to this bibliography also includes a few items concerning the ways and milieux in which Pucci’s name and works persisted in the century after his death. Bibliographical items of the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries are only exceptionally listed in this article, as they can be found in Speight 1954, cited under Bibliographies and Other Research Tools.
Visions of Diversity: Cultural Pluralism and the Nation in the Folk Music Revival Movement of the United States and Canada, 1958–65
