SELF-IDENTITY AND ALTERITY IN RENAISSANCE HUMANISM BETWEEN ELITE AND ...

281 Pages·2014·1.46 MB·English

SELF-IDENTITY AND ALTERITY IN RENAISSANCE HUMANISM BETWEEN
ELITE AND POPULAR DISCOURSES

by

ANNA LESIUK-CUMMINGS

A DISSERTATION

Presented to the Department of Romance Languages
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

June 2014
DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE

Student: Anna Lesiuk-Cummings

Title: Self-Identity and Alterity in Renaissance Humanism between Elite and Popular
Discourses

This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Romance
Languages by:

Massimo Lollini Chairperson/Advisor
Nathalie Hester Core Member
Leah Middlebrook Core Member
Gordon Sayre Institutional Representative

and

Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research and Innovation;
Dean of the Graduate School

Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School.

Degree awarded June 2014

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© 2014 Anna Lesiuk-Cummings

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DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

Anna Lesiuk-Cummings

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Romance Languages

June 2014

Title: Self-Identity and Alterity in Renaissance Humanism between Elite and Popular
Discourses

There are two parallel discourses on humanism nowadays. One conceives of
humanism as a worldview and a philosophical position. The other takes it to be a cultural
phenomenon typical of the European Renaissance. The critics interested in considering
humanism conceptually, as a rule, are not Renaissance scholars. Operating from either a
postmodern or a postcolonial perspective, they often speak of humanism as the backbone
of Western thought or the mainstay of European modernity and, in any case, as a bankrupt
ideology of the West. Conversely, the Renaissance scholars are more concerned with the
task of making sense of the idea of humanism in its original historical context than with
considering it in relation to its other, later developments and remain, for the most part,
unwilling to address the broader questions posed by humanism.
This dissertation purports to bring the philosophical and the historical discourses
on humanism together. I focus specifically on Renaissance humanism and ground my
reflection firmly in textual analyses of late XV and XVI century sources. More concretely,
I put forward a reading of two groups of texts. The first group includes three works
exploring the arch-theme of the Renaissance, dignitas hominis, from the perspective of a
relational concept of identity formation. These are: Pico della Mirandola’s Oratio (1486),
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Bovelles’s De sapiente (1511) and Vives’s Fabula de homine (1518). The second group of
texts contains three works which fall into the category of Renaissance Americanist
literature: Cabeza de Vaca’s Naufragios (1542), Galeotto Cei’s Viaggio e relazione delle
Indie (written after 1553) and Jean de Léry’s Histoire d'un voyage faict en la terre du Brésil
(1578).
The bridge between these two bodies of texts is the idea, found in Pico, Bovelles
and Vives, that arriving at a sense of self always involves a detour through otherness, as
experienced in one’s community, Nature and God. The encounter narratives, in illustrating
the impact of America on the Renaissance European traveler, bring to life what
philosophers theorized in the peace and quiet of their studies – the essential indefiniteness
of the self unless inhabited by meanings drawn from without.

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CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME OF AUTHOR: Anna Lesiuk-Cummings

GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:

University of Oregon, Eugene, USA
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warsaw, Poland

DEGREES AWARDED:

Doctor of Philosophy, Romance Languages, 2014, University of Oregon
Advanced Master, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2007, Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven,
Master, Italian Studies, 2003, Uniwersytet Warszawski

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

Renaissance Studies
Historical and Philosophical definitions of Humanism
Modernity and the Modern Self
History of Ideas
Early Modern Travel Literature
Early Modern Literature in Italian, Spanish French and Latin

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Assistant Professor of Spanish, Latin and Italian, Mt. Angel Seminary, St.
Benedict, August 2011- present

Graduate Teaching Fellow in Italian, University of Oregon, Eugene, September
2007 - July 2011

GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS:

Beall Graduate Dissertation Scholarship, Department of Romance Languages,
University of Oregon, Winter 2010/2011

FFIS International Understanding Award for International Students, Friendship
Foundation for International Students, University of Oregon, Spring 2009
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Socrates-Erasmus Program Scholarship for a term of study abroad, Uniwersytet
Warszawski, Fall 2000

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to thank especially Professor Massimo Lollini, my advisor for his support
and assistance for the past 7 years. Professor Lollini’s interest in the idea of “humanism
more than human” inspired me to pursue my own research into the ideas of self-identity
and alterity in Renaissance Humanism and his complete trust and unflinching belief in this
project helped me along the way. I would like to thank also Professors Nathalie Hester and
Leah Middlebrook who at the early stages of my inquires offered guidance in my studies
of Renaissance literature in French and Spanish. My gratitude goes also to Professor Sayre,
who graciously agreed to serve on my dissertation committee as the outside member.
I would also like to thank my children: Matthew, Michael and Natalia, who by their
exuberant presence in my life, and by forcing me to be a mom as well as a PhD student,
certainly drove home the major point of my dissertation, namely, the role of others in the
identity-shaping process. My husband Andrew was a constant source of love, support,
patience and encouragement. Without him, I would not have been able to finish this
manuscript. Last, but not least, special thanks go to my parents for their love and firm
confidence in my abilities that inspired me to pursue a career which is both a challenge and
a source of contentment.

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For Andrew, Matthew, Michael and Natalia

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page

I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1
II. SETTING THE STAGE: HUMANISM AND THE QUESTION OF
ALTERITY .................................................................................................................. 10
The Difficulty of Defining Humanism .................................................................. 10
The Double Genealogy of Humanism ................................................................... 20
Individuality, Interiority and Subjectivity.............................................................. 26
Renaissance Humanism and Philosophy ............................................................... 31
Humanism and the Renaissance Travel Literature ............................................... 39
III. GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA: THE SELF AS THE IMAGELESS
IMAGE OF GOD ......................................................................................................... 46
IV. CHARLES DE BOVELLES: THE SELF AS THE MIRROR OF THE
OTHER ................................................................................................................... 76
V. JUAN LUIS VIVES: THE SELF BETWEEN DIVINE MIMICRY AND
SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY ................................................................................ 107
VI. ÁLVAR NÚÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA: THE AMERICANIZED SELF ........... 134
VII. GALEOTTO CEI: HOMELESSNESS OF THE SELF ...................................... 173
VIII. JEAN DE LÉRY: THE SELF AS THE SPACE OF THE OTHER .................. 204
IX. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 238
REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 245

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