The Deceived - Paperback

Intronati of Siena: - The Academy of the Intronati produced "The Deceived" ("Gl'Ingannati") for the Sienese Carnival of 1531/32. Founded by Antonio Vignali, author of "Cazzaria" ("The Book of the Prick"), the academy's first assembly in 1525 included five members. By 1532 membership grew to at least thirty. The name "Intronati" signifies the "stunned," the "dazed" or "bewildered," and they styled themselves as an assembly of intellectual buffoons and clowns with funny names and inane activities. Their motto translates approximately as: "Pray, study, celebrate, do harm to no one, believe no one, and give no concern to the world." While they concentrated on philosophy, music, love, games, and poetry, playwriting was a regular part of the Intronati's activities. Members were expected to contribute a play as the price for their admission into the academy. Yet only two plays are known to have been performed before "The Deceived," "I prigioni" (1529-30), and "Aurelia" (1531). Although individual members, like Alessandro Piccolomini, have been suggested as possible authors, The Deceived was likely a collaborative effort much in the spirit of its presentation.Beecher, Donald: - Donald Beecher is the Chancellor's Professor in the Department of English at Carleton University in Canada, where he specializes in the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His research and teaching have taken him in many directions from the history of medicine to the cognitive sciences, with salient adventures along the way into Ben Jonson studies, early English prose fiction, tricksters, folklore, early music, Italian theatre, exploration and pharmacology, witchcraft, and the history of collecting. With Massimo Ciavolella he has collaborated on nine projects, including "The Scruffy Scoundrels" by Annibal Caro and the theatrical masterpiece by the Intronati of Siena, "The Deceived," both for Italica Press. With Ciavolella he has also collaborated on the English and French editions of Ferrand's "Treatise on Lovesickness." Their future projects include a new translation of tales from Boccaccio's "Decameron" for Broadview PressCiavolella, Massimo: - Massimo Ciavolella studied at the Universities of Bologna, Rome, and British Columbia, where he received his Ph.D. in Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He taught at Carleton University and at the University of Toronto before becoming Director of the UCLA Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. He was the co-founder and co-editor (1970-91) of "Quaderni d'italianistica," and he is currently co-editor of the Carleton Renaissance Plays in Translation Series and of the University of Toronto Press's Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library. In addition to many articles, he has written and co-edited several books.