Standing at the Crossroads

<p>Imagined as an armed old man leaping like a locust or as a young man walking in the dark doubt occupies a prominent place in the mental landscape of Renaissance Italians. Intriguing stories of doubters as well as allegories and tales of doubt populated sonnets dialogues novelle religious tracts and a wealth of other vernacular texts. In an age of crisis and renewal doubt no longer pointed to an exclusively individual condition nor was it solely the object of philosophical and theological reflections. Rather doubt became a complex cultural object at the centre of numerous cultural strategies. Why was it so? Were Renaissance Italians especially inclined to doubt? And if so what were the cultural and emotional consequences of such an attitude? Resorting to a large and diverse array of literary and visual sources Marco Faini reconstructs how doubt became a privileged tool to make sense of an increasingly complex world.</p><p>Marco Faini is Assistant Professor of Italian at the University at Buffalo (SUNY).</p>