Fantastic Creatures in Italian Literature

This volume explores the mysterious relationship between imagination and creatures—be they animals or hybrids— through the field of Italian literary history from its origins through the early modern period. Animals and fantastic beings have become transfer figures, charged with signifying and expressing symbolic moments and emotional states. Some of these creatures have achieved such fame that they have become true literary tropes. The essays gathered in this volume explore the allegorical, cultural, or philosophical significance that specific creatures have assumed in the works of some of the most important authors of the Italian premodern tradition, from Chiaro Davanzati, through Dante and Boccaccio, all the way to Leopardi. Though grounded in different genres and historical contexts, each essay reveals how the animal or demonic figure becomes a site of philosophical reflection.