Hermaphroditus

This translation of Antonio Panormita’s Hermaphroditus brings life to the little-known Renaissance writer’s bawdy masterpiece. The rip-roaring yarn, first published in 1425 and modeled on Roman poet Martial, was intially greeted with enthusiasm by humanist scholars, only to be reviled and censured as obscene by Christian apologists. O'Connor’s introduction offers historical and literary information on Panormita’s wildly and extravagantly profane poetry, presented here in both English and the Latin original. With the inclusion of works of erotic genius to fond epistles to absent friends, the editor weaves the life and times of Panormita into the Italian humanist’s poetry.