The Courtier

Il Cortegiano

By: Baldassare Castiglione

Narrated by: Peter Batchelor

The Book of the Courtier remains the definitive account of Renaissance court life. Because of this, it is considered one of the most important Renaissance works.

The book is organized as a series of fictional conversations that occur between the courtiers of the Duke of Urbino in 1507 (when Baldassare was in fact part of the Duke's Court). In the book, the courtier is described as having a cool mind, a good voice (with beautiful, elegant and brave words) along with proper bearing and gestures. At the same time though, the courtier is expected to have a warrior spirit, to be athletic, and have good knowledge of the humanities, Classics and fine arts. Over the course of four evenings, members of the court try to describe the perfect gentleman of the court. In the process they debate the nature of nobility, humor, women, and love.

Public Domain (P)2011 Trout Lake Media

One of the best books I have come across.

A lot of the major principles of life have been thoroughly developed in this book. What amazes me even more is how these principles still hold today, after five centuries of their publication in Venice.
To be read many times in the future.

A classic of Italian letterature

going behind etymology on the meaning of courtesy and what makes human civilized. not for bigots, requires critical thinking and perspective to follow. if after an easy reading leave this one for when you feel ready for broadening your perspectives instead

Misspelling

It would help if the author's name were spelled correctly. On the information about the audiobook it is correct (Castiglione with one "n"), but on the author's portrait both on Audible and on Amazon it is misspelled (Castiglionne with 2 n's). Really Audible/Amazon? You can't consistently spell the author's name right? Why, because it's Italian and only "American" names matter to you enough to double check the spelling before publishing?

Very many Italian words mispronounced, gruesomely

What made the experience of listening to The Courtier the most enjoyable?

The story and the translation.

What other book might you compare The Courtier to and why?

There is no book to which I can compare this one.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

By pronouncing Giuliano as Gwee-lee-ah-no, by pronouncing Cagliari as Caligari. I would expect him to order la-zahg-na in a restaurant. His eye seems to trick him when he looks at Italian words, and diphthongs such as gn and gl are beyond his ken. H following a g or c makes the sound hard. Italian is not difficult to pronounce.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

This might be just fine for you if you don't care how Italian words are pronounced. The reader does a passable job with voice characterizations, and has a pleasant UK accent.

Educational book for gentlemen

I looked for the way a man should behave, what a better way than to learn from the elders of previous generations.