Renaissance Vegetarianism: The Philosophical Afterlives of Porphyry’s On Abstinence
Cecilia Muratori
Italian Perspectives 46•28 September 2020
- ‘The meticulously researched study of the generation and Renaissance receptions of Porphyry's On Abstinence in Cecilia Muratori's Renaissance Vegetarianism is well worth attention from Romanticists, alongside the Early Modern scholars, Classicists, and Animal Studies scholars that will comprise its main audience... Literal and figurative translations of ethical, philosophical, and dietary ideas upon vegetarianism and veganism connect ancient and Early Modern thought in Muratori's admirable study, with glimpses of Thomas Taylor and Shelley suggesting the future of Porphyry's reception in the Romantic period.’ — Amanda Blake Davis, The Coleridge Bulletin 57, Summer 2021, 141-46
- ‘Muratori’s work provides us not only with an overview of philosophical thinking on vegetarianism from ancient authors to their reception by Renaissance but also with interesting keys to understand the issues that worried intellectuals of those times. Her analysis gives the main clues of the reception of Porphyry’s work and shows how crucial it was for the evolution of vegetarian thinking that is still strongly present in our days. The rigor of the research and the excellent way the contents are presented with a simple but accurate drafting make this work accessible and fascinating for scholars as well for curious readers.’ — Monica Durán Mañas, Mediterranea 7, 2022 (full text online)
- ‘The most celebrated work on animals to emerge from ancient philosophy, Porphyry’s On Abstinence from Killing Animals, argues at length against the Stoics that animals have reason or “inner logos,” in part on the basis of their behavior but also on the basis of the claim that some animals can understand and produce language, or “outer logos.” And this was one of those texts that really was recovered and read avidly in the Renaissance. Just how avidly, and with what consequences, is shown by Cecilia Muratori’s Renaissance Vegetarianism, a wide-ranging, fascinating, and frequently entertaining survey of ideas about animals in this period.’ — Peter Adamson, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie Published online, 2023 (full text online)
- ‘To add to the many merits of Muratori’s accomplishment, the book includes a bibliography that is comprehensive as well as carefully selected. The index of names and subjects is thorough and extremely helpful. The many philosophical discussions never read stiltedly and are always recounted in a thought-provoking and engaging style. Above all, this tour de force on the history of vegetarianism makes the reader reflect on a central question that remains unanswered to this day: can a being that is sentient and rational be legitimately consumed and turned into food?’ — E. Giada Capasso, Modern Language Review 118.3, July 2023, 403-05 (full text online)
The Philomena of Chrétien the Jew: The Semiotics of Evil
Peter Haidu, edited by Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner
Research Monographs in French Studies 59•28 September 2020
Plutarch in English, 1528–1603: Volume 1: Essays
Edited by Fred Schurink
Tudor and Stuart Translations 2/1 of 2•18 December 2020
- ‘The really significant contribution to scholarship is Schurink’s General Introduction. Here we see his command of the subject, and can trace the logic and the evidence that results in the inescapable conclusion that we really should take Plutarch more seriously... there is much about these two volumes that makes them important material for anyone seeking to understand English literature in the sixteenth and, indeed, the seventeenth centuries.’ — Freyja Cox Jensen, Translation and Literature 30, 2021, 384-390 (full text online)
Plutarch in English, 1528–1603: Volume 2: Lives
Edited by Fred Schurink
Tudor and Stuart Translations 2/2 of 2•18 December 2020
- ‘The really significant contribution to scholarship is Schurink’s General Introduction. Here we see his command of the subject, and can trace the logic and the evidence that results in the inescapable conclusion that we really should take Plutarch more seriously... there is much about these two volumes that makes them important material for anyone seeking to understand English literature in the sixteenth and, indeed, the seventeenth centuries.’ — Freyja Cox Jensen, Translation and Literature 30, 2021, 384-390 (full text online)
William Barker, Xenophon's 'Cyropædia'
Edited by Jane Grogan
Tudor and Stuart Translations 13•20 March 2020
- ‘Barker’s Cyropaedia can further our understanding of Xenophon, as well as its own literary and cultural moment. Grogan’s exemplary edition, marrying rigorous scholarship to a user-friendly text, will facilitate both.’ — Carla Suthren, Translation and Literature 30, 2021, 231-37 (full text online)
Thomas May, Lucan's Pharsalia (1627)
Edited by Emma Buckley and Edward Paleit
Tudor and Stuart Translations 18•7 December 2020
- ‘This edition of Thomas May’s translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia forms a very welcome addition to the excellent MHRA series of Tudor and Stuart Translations... this admirably well-conceived edition certainly opens up May’s version – and Lucan himself – for today’s readers.’ — David Norbrook, Translation and Literature 31, 2022, 92-94 (full text online)