The Cabala of Pegasus
Giordano Bruno
Abstract
Giordano Bruno's The Cabala of Pegasus grew out of the great Italian philosopher's experiences lecturing and debating at Oxford in early 1584. Having received a cold reception there because of his viewpoints, Bruno went on in the Cabala to attack the narrow-mindedness of the university—and by extension, all universities that resisted his advocacy of intellectual freethinking. The Cabala of Pegasus consists of vernacular dialogues that turn on the identification of the noble Pegasus (the spirit of poetry) and the humble ass (the vehicle of divine revelation). In the interplay of these ideas, Br ... More
Giordano Bruno's The Cabala of Pegasus grew out of the great Italian philosopher's experiences lecturing and debating at Oxford in early 1584. Having received a cold reception there because of his viewpoints, Bruno went on in the Cabala to attack the narrow-mindedness of the university—and by extension, all universities that resisted his advocacy of intellectual freethinking. The Cabala of Pegasus consists of vernacular dialogues that turn on the identification of the noble Pegasus (the spirit of poetry) and the humble ass (the vehicle of divine revelation). In the interplay of these ideas, Bruno explores the nature of poetry, divine authority, secular learning, and Pythagorean metempsychosis, which had great influence on James Joyce and many other writers and artists from the Renaissance to the modern period. This book, the first English translation of The Cabala of Pegasus, contains both the English and Italian versions as well as annotations.
Keywords:
Giordano Bruno,
The Cabala of Pegasus,
Oxford University,
intellectual freethinking,
Pegasus,
poetry,
divine revelation,
secular learning,
Pythagorean metempsychosis
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2002 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780300092172 |
Published to Yale Scholarship Online: October 2013 |
DOI:10.12987/yale/9780300092172.001.0001 |