Jacopo Caviceo

Sherry Roush (Penn State University)

Ed. by Jo Ann Cavallo, Columbia University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.6.1: Italian Writing and Culture, 453-present.
Vol. editors: Carla Bregman (Independent Scholar - North America), Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University)

Dates

Born 1443
Died 1511
Activity c. 1500-1511

Places

Born in Italy
Active in Italy

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Caviceo's Works

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Jacopo Caviceo wrote the best-selling prose romance

Il Peregrino

[1508]. This proto-Romeo-and-Juliet story of the star-crossed lovers Peregrino and Genevera enjoyed great success, as evidenced by twenty-one Italian editions, nine French translations, and three Spanish translations during its first fifty-one years of publication. It “may have been the first novel specially written for women” (Letizia Panizza,

The Cambridge History of Italian Literature

, 159).

Born in Parma in 1443, Caviceo began studying law in Bologna, but due to disciplinary issues he had to leave the university before finishing his degree. In the early 1460s he undertook an ecclesiastical career, although evidence of a true vocation appears lacking. Caviceo seduced nuns under his protection and he gravely wounded a

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485 words

Citation: Roush, Sherry. "Jacopo Caviceo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 August 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13356, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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