Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS vii
3. Foreword ix
4. Preface xiii
5. Abbreviations xv
6. 1 Bruno and the Ass: A Long-Deferred Questlon 1
7. 2 Myths, Fables, Tales: The "Asinine" Materials 9
8. 3 The Ass and Mercury: A Key to Coincidentla Oppositorum 17
9. 4 The Ambiguous Space of Asininity 25
10. 5 Man and the Ass, between "Bestiality" and "Divinity" 35
11. 6 Positive Asininity Toil, Humility, Tolerance 43
12. 7 Negative Asininity: Idleness, Arrogance, Unidimensionality 50
13. 8 The Oration of Fortune 67
14. 9 In the Labyrinth of Truth 78
15. 10 From Orion to Chiron: Opposing Images of the Religious Cult 96
16. 11 The Ass in the Guise of the Sileni: Appearances Are Deceptive 108
17. 12 The Literature of the Ass before Bruno 118
18. 13 The Entropy of Writing 140
19. 14 Natural Science and Human Science: A "Nouvelle Alliance" 167
20. Iconographical Collection 178
21. Notes 207
22. Index 269