“The Treasure begins” The historical context of Brunetto Latini’s poem

Abstract

Brunetto Latini, the old florentine intellectual, is the author and at the same time the narrator–protagonist of his opera: Il Tesoretto is a didactic–allegorical poem written in vernacular. In my study, I focus on the figure of Latini and on the historical context of the poem. Within this context, I examine the function of the first person narrator, the construction of narrative authority, and authorial self–representation in general. When Latini gives the poem’s protagonist and narrator his own name, he intertwines the various aspects of Brunetto (Brunetto the historical figure and poet, Brunetto the narrator, and Brunetto the protagonist) in a complex construction.
The aim of this paper is to explore some aspects of such construction, Brunetto’s self–representation in the dedication and his programmatic exploitation of some autobiographical references.