The Genesis of Tasso's Narrative Theory offers translations of theoretical works by the 16th-century Italian poet Torquato Tasso that have been unavailable in English heretofore and presents them together with a critical apparatus that puts these prose works in context with Tasso's major poetry. The translations are an excellent addition to the body of literature on romance and epic poetry during the Italian Renaissance.
Lawrence Rhu shows the relationship of young Tasso's narrative theory to his great epic, Gerusalemme liberata, and the relationship of both to 16th-century poetics and religious dogmatism. He also illustrates the connection between Tasso's writings and those of his immediate precursors, especially Ariosto, and to the English masters of epic, Spenser and Milton.