Biographia Copernicana: Die Copernicus-Biographien des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts: Texte und Übersetzungen (review)
Zambelli adopts a highly personal voice, projecting a vivid authorial persona through rhetorical as well as scholarly means. She is unafraid of the first-person singular and fond of the dramatic interjection, from the occasional half-humorous ahimè to theatrical asides; unfortunately, the latter are frequently ad personam. Some of her criticisms are merited; others may well be, but the relentless sarcasm often vitiates the scholarly point. This is especially notable in the final essay, “Qualche interpretazione. Magia e ermetismo da Tocco a Corsano, da Yates a Ciliberto.” Reviewing the major interpreters of this topic, Professor Zambelli provides illuminating assessments of illustrious predecessors, especially Walker, Yates, and Garin, along with some touching personal reminiscences. Recent scholars are generally assessed impersonally, but negative judgments of their scholarship — one case in particular — devolve into personal indictment. Whatever the scholarly merits — and Professor Zambelli’s judgments often compel assent — criticism too frequently yields to dismissiveness or disdain, giving the article a claustrophobic feel. Dispassionate discussion would have served better, even if it required summarizing debates now several years old and familiar to many. Nevertheless, the book deserves careful attention for its discussions of the Hermetic tradition’s ambiguous relations with necromancy and popular magic, a question that is far from exhausted. WALTER STEPHENS The Johns Hopkins University