After sorting out my Alberti book, I’m now spending the rest of the day reading homoerotic Italian poetry. This book has been consistently miscataloged as containing two famous poems on pederasty that do not actually appear. But other poems were included, sometimes with girl names swapped for boy.
I have to read all the poems and compare them to the critical edition to evaluate their gayness and check for bowdlerizing. I HAVE TO. FOR BUSINESS REASONS.
It’s looking to me like anything overly explicit was not included (mentions of Ganymede are right out) but the editor tolerated a high level of gender ambiguity.
Feb 2, 2026 21:24A series of poems to his unrequited love have had the name of the loved one changed from Alessi to Chloris, kind of ruining the Eclogue riff he had going on.
