Making Flowers Speak: Petrarch and Idiorrhythmy. (3rd July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Southerden, Francesca
• Is Part Of: Exemplaria. Volume 33:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 220
• Page End: 233
• Publication Date: 2021-07-03
• Subjects: Petrarch -- idiorrhythmy -- desire -- lyric -- fantasy -- errancy; European literature -- Renaissance, 1450-1600 -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Literature, Medieval -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Middle Ages -- Periodicals; 809.0205
• DOI: 10.1080/10412573.2021.1977515
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1041-2573

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article brings Petrarch's (1304–74) lyric poetry into dialogue with Barthes's notion of "idiorrythmie" (idiorrhythmy) as outlined in his lecture course Comment vivre ensemble ( How to Live Together ). It explores both the idiorrhythmic aspects of Petrarchan desire and the traits of lyric utterance through which they are expressed, with a focus on canzone 126 of Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta ( Fragments of Vernacular Things ). The article begins with a study of Barthes's exposition of idiorrhythmy: its medieval origins in the monastic communities of Mount Athos and the productively unstable and improvised character of the "living together, " and apart, that it implies. Most significant for the analysis that follows is idiorrhythmy's relationship to eros, Barthes's idea that idiorrhythmy preserves a space for the body's desires in opening to interruptions, deviations, and digressions. The remainder of the article offers a close reading of Petrarch's Rvf 126, focusing on one image in the poem that, like Barthes's idiorrhythmy, is rooted in fantasy and embraces errancy: the image of a flower that turning and falling around the poet's beloved seems to speak of love.