Ficino in Spain

In Ficino in Spain, Susan Byrne uses textual and bibliographic evidence to show the pervasive impact of Ficino’s writings and translations on the Spanish Renaissance.

Susan Byrne is an associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University.

"Susan Byrne’s Ficino in Spain is an essential contribution to the study of the intellectual and cultural history of Spain and early modern Europe. Meticulously researched, artfully argued, and lucidly presented, it introduces an important but neglected philosophical and literary current. In fact, it breaks new ground."

Juan Bubello:

"Byrne’s book, with its own methodology that draws from the history of ideas, literary studies, and comparative literature, emerges as an important contribution for those who are interested in the cultural history of esotericism in Spain, and indeed in Western Europe between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries more generally."

Michael J.B. Allen:

‘Excellent study, richly annotated and carefully argued.’

Bruno Damiani:

‘Byrne should be commended for her scrupulous study and cogent analysis of relevant literary texts…. She has unquestionably lent a signal service to students and scholars alike in their efforts to understand better the depth and breadth of Ficino’s creative genius.’

Frederick A. De. Armas:

‘Susan Byrne’s Ficino in Spain is a book that was waiting to be written… Byrne’s book on Ficino will serve as an evidence of the many intellectual exchanges between Spain, Italy, and the rest of Europe during the Renaissance and early modern periods.’

Valery Rees, School of Economic Science:

“Ficino in Spain sets out to correct an egregious error in the historiography of the Renaissance in Spain that has undervalued the part played by Italian Neoplatonism of the late fifteenth century. Byrne achieves that aim through persuasive arguments based on sound scholarship and a broad range of examples.”

Lia Schwartz, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, The Graduate Center, City University of New York:

“Ficino in Spain is an important contribution to the study of early modern Spanish literature and culture, particularly of Italo-Spanish relationships and the development of humanism during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Byrne convincingly demonstrates in text after text how writers of poetry, fiction (such as Cervantes), drama, and many discursive genres mentioned, quoted, or disagreed with Ficino’s dicta and theories.”