Hypnerotomachia: The Strife of Loue in a Dreame
Colonna, Francesco, -1527Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019
Rating 3.9- Word count
- 414K words
- Chapters
- 42
Tags
English Originals Foreign Literature History of PhilosophyLove AllegoryIllustrated GuideDream NarrativeRenaissanceSymbolismSummary
Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Hypnerotomachia: The Strife of Loue in a Dreame by Francesco ColonnaAuthor: Colonna, Francesco, -1527,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: May 27, 2006Editor's review
Hypnerotomachia: The Strife of Loue in a Dreame is a highly distinctive and legendary work of the Italian Renaissance, written by Francesco Colonna. Framed as a dream narrative, it recounts the protagonist's struggle between love and desire within a dream, blending architectural description, mythological allegory, linguistic experimentation in Latin and Italian, and a wealth of exquisite engraving imagery. It is at once a love allegory and a microcosm of Renaissance humanist taste and intellectual culture, exerting a profound influence on later garden aesthetics, symbolic literature, and the art of the book. This edition is an English translation e-book provided by Project Gutenberg, suitable as supplementary reading for the study of Renaissance literature, comparative literature, and book history, and also for readers interested in classical dream narratives and allegorical literature to savor at leisure. It should be noted that the original work is intricate in language and dense with allusions, and its narrative pace and plot development do not conform to modern novel-reading habits; readers are best advised to approach it with a mindset of research or appreciation of antiquarian detail rather than seeking story-driven engagement.Who it's for
A good fit for
- Scholars and students of Renaissance literature and classical European allegory
- Readers interested in dream narratives, symbolic literature, and imagery of gardens and architecture
- Enthusiasts of early printed books and the history of engraving art
- Advanced readers seeking to broaden their English reading and comfortable with intricate prose
Not a good fit for
- General fiction readers expecting fast-paced plots and clear storylines
- Beginners with limited English reading experience and unfamiliarity with classical allusions
- Readers seeking only a concise love story without interest in deeper cultural context
Reading tips
- Begin with the introduction or relevant background material to understand the Renaissance dream-literature tradition before entering the main text
- Appreciate architectural and garden descriptions as self-contained passages rather than insisting on narrative continuity
- Mark dense allusions as you go and consult notes and reference works afterward
- Read a small section each day and record images and symbols to avoid fatigue from forcing through in one sitting
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
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- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
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- 27
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FAQ
Is this book a novel or an allegory?
It has features of both: the love struggle within the dream serves as the narrative thread, but much of the text is devoted to architectural description, mythological allusion, and symbolic allegory, making it closer to Renaissance allegorical literature than to a modern plot-driven novel.Can I read this book if my English is not good?
It is not very suitable. The English translation preserves the original's intricate syntax and abundant classical allusions, making it a demanding read. If your English foundation is limited, it is advisable to first read relevant Chinese research materials or choose an edition with detailed annotations before attempting the original text.Why are there so many architectural descriptions in the book?
Renaissance humanist works often treated architecture, gardens, and spatial order as symbols of ideal order. Colonna uses architectural and garden descriptions within the dream to express aesthetic and philosophical ideas, which is one reason the book has attracted attention in architectural and garden studies.What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?
This edition is a free e-book provided by Project Gutenberg, classified under English language and PQ (Romance literatures) for easy searching and downloading. It serves well as a reading and research base text for public-domain works, but it usually lacks modern scholarly annotations; in-depth study requires additional reference works.This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Colonna, Francesco, -1527 Author · ItalianFrancesco Colonna (died 1527) was an Italian Dominican friar remembered as the author of the legendary romance Hypnerotomachia. The full title may be rendered as The Strife of Love in a Dream; framed as a dream, it follows its protagonist through fantastical gardens, buildings and statues in pursuit of love. Written in a mixture of Latin and Italian, the work is elaborate in style, filled with dense descriptions of architecture, gardens and antiquities, and accompanied by finely cut woodcut illustrations, making it one of the most distinctive literary works of the Renaissance. Public information about Colonna's life is limited, and his identity and the work's authorship remain debated among scholars; nonetheless the book had a profound influence on later garden design, book illustration and the tradition of dream literature.