Luigi Pulci

Italian poet. Born into a family of fallen nobles in Florence. He joined the Medici court salon in 1461, and struck up a friendship with the young Lorenzo de' Medici through his poetry in the vernacular. However, he soon came into conflict with the Platonic Academia school that was gaining prominence within the court, and his master Lorenzo also became increasingly devoted to Neoplatonism, so in 1473 he left the court and served as a mercenary captain in Florence. His works include short pieces such as sonnets, but his poetic spirit, rooted in the vibrant tradition of 15th-century Florence's civic literature, was fully displayed in his masterpiece, "Morgante," 28 Cantos (1483), which he spent half his life on. This work is based on the medieval chivalric tales in which the knight Orlando plays an active role, and on top of that, it adds original characters and episodes, including the giant Morgante, and furthermore, it is a large parody that makes full use of a wide variety of vocabulary and expressions, from colloquial to literary, and it had a great influence on the later French storyteller Rabelais. Furthermore, because of this work, he was treated as a heretic when he was buried after his death.

[Kazuhiro Hayashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イタリアの詩人。フィレンツェの没落貴族の家に生まれる。1461年からメディチ家の宮廷サロンに加わり、俗語による詩作を介して年若いロレンツォ・デ・メディチと友情を結んだ。しかしやがて、宮廷内で台頭してきたプラトン・アカデミア派と対立し、主君ロレンツォもネオプラトニズモへの傾倒を深めたため、73年以降は宮廷を離れてフィレンツェの傭兵(ようへい)隊長に仕えた。作品にはソネットなどの小品もあるが、15世紀フィレンツェの溌剌(はつらつ)たる市民文学の伝統に根ざした彼の詩精神は、半生を費やした大作『モルガンテ』28歌（1483）において存分に発揮された。これは、騎士オルランドが活躍する中世騎士道物語を下敷きにして、そのうえに巨人モルガンテをはじめ独創的な登場人物や挿話を加え、さらに口語から文語にわたる多彩な語彙(ごい)と表現を駆使した一大パロディーで、後のフランスの物語作家ラブレーにも大きな影響を与えた。なおこの作品のために死後埋葬に際し異端の扱いを受けた。

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