Fragments of an Idealized Self: Reflections on the “Autobiographical Crisis” in the Epistolary of Francesco Petrarch

Abstract

The aim of this study is to foster reflections on the autobiographical crisis present in Petrarch’s epistolary writings. Rather than analyzing a specific letter, the focus lies on the identity crisis that permeates the poet’s work as a whole. Inspired by the organization of Cicero’s letters and seeking to leave for posterity a perfect image of himself, Petrarch endeavored to create an idealized epistolary corpus. However, this relentless pursuit cast over his letters a crisis, particularly of an autobiographical nature, which challenged the flawless image the poet strove to construct. The strictly biographist reading of Petrarchan writings thus generated what we here reflect upon as an “autobiographical crisis.”