Books by Torquato Tasso

La "Gerusalemme liberata", composta da ben quindicimila endecasillabi e costata all’autore sedici anni di lavoro febbrile e di timori per la censura, è uno dei maggiori capolavori della letteratura italiana. Ambientato in Terrasanta ai tempi della I Crociata (1096-1099), il poema vede come protagonista principale Goffredo di Buglione – condottiero storicamente esistito – al comando di cavalieri valorosi e fedeli come Rinaldo e Tancredi. Gerusalemme, governata dal sovrano Aladino, è difesa a sua volta da prodi soldati, fra cui spiccano le due guerriere Argante e Clorinda.In un tripudio di battaglie epiche, scontri magici e interventi demoniaci, il poema finisce col restituire non solo una storia meravigliosa e dal fascino eterno, ma anche l’affresco delle fantasie, delle pulsioni e delle paure di un grande poeta italiano come Torquato Tasso, costretto, suo malgrado, a misurarsi con l’arida temperie controriformistica della sua epoca.Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) nasce a Sorrento dal poeta bergamasco Bernardo. Dopo aver vissuto a Napoli con la madre e le sorelle, attorno ai dieci anni raggiunge il padre a Roma. Educato alle dispute letterarie e alla vita di corte, trascorre anni di studio a Padova e a Bologna, rinunciando presto alla carriera giuridica per dedicarsi alla poesia. Nel 1565 si apre forse la parentesi più bella della sua vita, quando è ammesso alla corte ferrarese di Alfonso II d’Este: qui, infatti, comporrà le sue opere più famose, l'"Aminta" e la "Gerusalemme liberata". In un’epoca segnata dall’oscurantismo religioso – e forse in virtù di un disturbo psicologico mai precisato – il poeta inizia ben presto a manifestare segni di paranoia, rivolgendosi più volte, spontaneamente, all’Inquisizione. Rinchiuso per ben sette anni nell’ospedale di Sant’Anna, dal 1586 trascorre frenetici anni di viaggio, fino a quando, poco prima di ricevere l’incoronazione a poeta in Campidoglio, si ritira nel convento romano di Sant’Onofrio, dove muore a soli cinquantun anni.

Jerusalem Delivered (Gerusalemme Liberata): Translated By Edward Fairfax Edited By Henry MorleyThis book is a result of an effort made by us towards making a contribution to the preservation and repair of original classic literature.In an attempt to preserve, improve and recreate the original content, we have worked towards:1. Type-setting & Reformatting: The complete work has been re-designed via professional layout, formatting and type-setting tools to re-create the same edition with rich typography, graphics, high quality images, and table elements, giving our readers the feel of holding a 'fresh and newly' reprinted and/or revised edition, as opposed to other scanned & printed (Optical Character Recognition - OCR) reproductions.2. Correction of imperfections: As the work was re-created from the scratch, therefore, it was vetted to rectify certain conventional norms with regard to typographical mistakes, hyphenations, punctuations, blurred images, missing content/pages, and/or other related subject matters, upon our consideration. Every attempt was made to rectify the imperfections related to omitted constructs in the original edition via other references. However, a few of such imperfections which could not be rectified due to intentional\unintentional omission of content in the original edition, were inherited and preserved from the original work to maintain the authenticity and construct, relevant to the work.We believe that this work holds historical, cultural and/or intellectual importance in the literary works community, therefore despite the oddities, we accounted the work for print as a part of our continuing effort towards preservation of literary work and our contribution towards the development of the society as a whole, driven by our beliefs. We are grateful to our readers for putting their faith in us and accepting our imperfections with regard to preservation of the historical content. HAPPY READING!

Described as Tasso's most ambitious project, this epic poem, part history, part fiction, is based on the events of the First Crusade, and was composed upon his release from a seven year confinement in Ferrara. This translation into English also contains the original Italian text.

Tasso's epic poem concerns the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099, and combines the theme of war with romantic and magical tales of love between pagan and Christian. This is the first modern translation that faithfully reflects the sense and verse form of Tasso's hugely infuential masterpiece.