Congratulations to Prof. James Coleman whose book A Sudden Frenzy: Improvisation, Orality, and Power in Renaissance Italy (University of Toronto Press, 2022) received Honorable Mention in the category of First Book in the 2022 American Association of Italian Studies Book Prize. The jurors for the prize accompanied their decision with this note: “Brilliantly argued, the book fills a gap in Renaissance scholarship on the commonalities and interplay of two cultural practices--oral and musical poetic improvisation and humanist practices of neo-Latin writing and erudition. By studying in great detail the activities and performances of Florentine canterini and the debate on poetic improvisation among the literary circles of influential humanists such as Marsilio Ficino and Poliziano, Coleman shows how humanist culture itself was not only prone to the contamination of oral practices, but it intermingled its theory of ancient poetry with the cultural practices of oral and musical improvised performance in Quattrocento and early Cinquecento urban culture. A solid work of scholarship and an impressively mature command of primary and secondary sources for a first book.”
The Department of French and Italian joins the committee in warmly congratulating Prof. Coleman.