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Ferrante Pallavicino (1615–44) counts as one of the most controversial authors of his time. His manifold literary production includes many of the genres then en vogue, like poetic eulogies, novelle (short tales), polemical pamphlets, historiography and, above all, novels, of which he wrote around ten. Some of these novels may have been influential not only on other novelists, but also, indirectly, on a few opera libretti, although Ferrante himself did not author a single libretto. In fact, in many of his writings he airs a sharp contempt and antipathy towards singers and castrati in particular, the major protagonists of early opera. This aversion may have partly originated from a thwarted love affair and is clearly articulated in a few passages from his epistolary novel Il corriero svaligiato (1641) and, most provocatively, in his pseudo-rhetorical dialogue La retorica delle puttane (1642). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem with the term “Cavalier Poets”, as Peter Davidson has pointed out, is that it “identifies a school by allegiance and period, rather than by a distinguishing literary feature”. But if we were to redefine the Cavalier poets in terms of “a distinguishing literary feature”, what exactly would that feature be? Understanding the Cavalier poets in terms of their interest in contemporary continental poetry, and its translation and imitation in English, rather than in terms of political allegiance, can help preserve the utility of “Cavalier poets” as a critical term. A reconstruction of the interests of both pre- and post-war Cavaliers in Italian baroque and Frenchlibertinpoetics can shed some new light on their intellectual and philosophical, as well as literary, preoccupations. It should also prompt a reassessment of what an anthology of verse that retains the title of “Cavalier Poets” might look like. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]