Luigi Pulci?s rollicking, ribald account of the exploits of the paladin Orlando and his giant friend Morgante has never failed to provoke strong reactions in its readers. Pulci?s irreverent satirical wit made his Morgante an instant bestseller following its initial publication, but also drew the ire of powerful enemies like the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, who called for copies to be burned in the ?bonfires of vanities? organized by his followers in Florence. The Morgante is the most important immediate precursor to the Orlando innamorato and the Orlando furioso, yet relatively little critical attention has been devoted to Pulci?s work compared to that of his successors Boiardo and Ariosto. This volume ? the first collection of critical essays dedicated to Pulci ? offers a comprehensive reassessment of Pulci?s work and legacy, shedding new light on the cultural and literary traditions that Pulci draws from and subverts, the social and political forces that shaped Pulci?s work, and the breadth of Pulci?s influence from the Renaissance to the present day. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction - JAMES COLEMAN AND ANDREA MOUDARRES Tra autobiografia e confessione - MARCO VILLORESI The Devil and the Mirror: Pulci?s Theology - GIUSEPPINA PALMA The Tenzone between Matteo Franco and Luigi Pulci in the Context of Renaissance Vituperium: Notes on Language and Intertextuality - MICHELANGELO ZACCARELLO Rhetoric of Insult in Luigi Pulci?s Morgante - ALESSIO DECARIA ?? e tutto il prato di pecore pieno? (Morgante XX. 37). Dalla similitudine alla metafora? - MARIA CRISTINA CABANI La morte di Orlando nel Morgante - STEFANO CARRAI Luigi Pulci and the Invention of Renaissance Irreverence - LINDA CARROLL The Ideological Battle of Roncevaux: The Critique of Political Power from Pulci?s Morgante to Sicilian Puppet Theater Today - JOANN CAVALLO Index of Names