Buffoons, A Ridiculous Comedy – A Bilingual Edition

Margherita Costa’s Li Buffoni, depreciated, misattributed or just simply forgotten through the centuries, has finally found some love. In the sensitive hands of Sara Díaz and Jessica Goethals, who cheerfully whip the complicated language of this commedia ridicolosa into shape while remaining attentive to the irreverent, rambunctious vocabulary of the text, we find another valuable voice to add to the ever-growing roster of early modern women writers from Italy. A poet, dramatist, historian, singer, librettist, “widow and poor virtuosa with two daughters,” Costa produced fourteen works in which she managed to say something important through laughter about what court life was like for underlings of either sex,and what kind of Baroque poetics allow women to find their voice.--Valeria Finucci, Professor of Romance Studies, Duke University

• Acknowledgments xiiiIllustrations xvIntroduction 1The Buffoons, A Ridiculous Comedy 73Dedication 75To the Readers 77Cast of Characters 79Argument 81Canzonetta 83Prologue 85Act One 97Act Two 201Act Three 273Canzonette 325Notes to the Italian Edition 330Notes to the English Translation 331Bibliography 347Index 363