The Economics of Poetry ― The Efficient Production of Neo-latin Verse, 1400?720

The Economics of Poetry takes an innovative approach to the genre of Neo-Latin poetry, encompassing the entire process of poetic production, from composition and physical realization to the formal presentation to the honorand. This process was not predicated upon post-Romantic ideas of inspiration and originality, but rather upon the need to produce literary works in a timely fashion, often (though not exclusively) dependent upon the realities and exigencies of the contemporary political situation.

Applying this approach across more than three centuries of literary production, this volume analyses the techniques employed and developed by authors all around the world to reduce the effort of poetic composition, streamline its production and facilitate its presentation when time was a crucial factor in success. To reveal the efficient techniques which authors employed in order to meet their deadlines, each essay focuses on a variety of works by the same writer and examines the full context of their production. The re-use and recycling of previous texts and rhetorical templates – and even the re-dedication of previously presented manuscripts – emerges as a central and essential modus operandi in response to the strict dictates of fast production.

Paul Gwynne obtained his doctorate from the Warburg Institute at the University of London. For the last twenty years he has lived and worked in Rome, where he is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the American University of Rome.

Bernhard Schirg obtained his doctorate from the Department of Medieval and Neo-Latin Philology at the University of Gottingen. He is currently working as a researcher and project leader at the Gotha Research Centre of the University of Erfurt. His research profile reflects the interdisciplinary potential of the growing field of Neo-Latin studies, comprising Renaissance poetry, emblematics, art history and the history of science.