La Cazzaria: The Book of the Prick (Paperback)

The sexiest and most enjoyable book of the year. -- Dean Kuipers, LA Times
Because it is such unabashed fun, it makes a sharp commentary on current writing about sex. -- Dean Kuipers, LA Times
Controversy--political, sexual, and otherwise--always sells books... . Political intrigue and scandal are also the main topics in La Cazzaria: The Book of the Prick, by Antonio Vignali, edited and translated by Ian Frederick Moulton (Routledge; April). A cross between Machiavellis The Prince and the most scandalous pornography of its time, this 16th-century erotic dialogue -- translated for the first time -- redefines the possibilities of sexual politics. -- Michael Bronski, Boston Phoenix
Recommended for collections dealing with the history of sexuality or erotica. -- Mary Morgan Smith, Library Journal
His [Moutons] exemplary introduction is nearly as long as the text itself and twice as worthwhile. It provides the historical perspective and intellectual sobriety missing from what Moulton tactfully describes as learned, but childish, fable that is, even by most liberal modern standards, a complete gross-out-though probably not to anyone who has tuned into Howard Stern. A radically obscene satire on politics and sex
. -- The New Yorkern
His [Moutons] exemplary introduction is nearly as long as the text itself and twice as worthwhile. It provides the historical perspective and intellectual sobriety missing from what Moulton tactfully describes as learned, but childish, fable that is, even by most liberal modern standards, a complete gross-out-though probably not to anyone who has tuned into Howard Stern. A radically obscene satire on politics and sex
. -- The New Yorker
Moultons translation and edition of Vignalis La cazzaria constitutes a useful instrument to understand further the strong links among knowledge, power, and sexuality in the early modern period. Moultons remarkable introduction to Vignalis dialogue places the text in its historical context, thus making this edition a useful instrument for scholars in gender studies, queer studies, and early modern political and intellectual history. -- Monica Calabritto, City University of New York, Hunter College, Renaissance Quarterly
Moultons translation and edition of Vignalis La cazzaria constitutes a useful intstrument to understand further the strong links among knowledge, power, and sexuality in the early modern period... a useful instrument for scholars in gender studies, queer studies, and early modern political and intellectual history. -- Monica Calabritto, the City University of New York, Hunter College, Renaissance Quarterly

La Cazzaria is the most outspoken erotic text of the Italian Renaissance-a ribald dialogue about politics, sex, and desire written in 1525 by Antonio Vignali, a young Italian nobleman from Siena. Here, in the Rabelaisian depictions of personified genitalia and other bodily organs, a page of our sexual past is restored.
La Cazzaria is at once a comic fable about bodies and desire, and an outrageous political allegory. Composed as a dialogue between two actual members of one of the most prestigious literary societies of 16th-century Italy, it is organized as a series of fifty-two questions on subjects ranging from anatomy, to psychology, linguistics, and psychology. The text is remarkable for its frank discussions of sexuality and explicit homoeroticism-especially when compared to other texts of the period-and for its sophisticated treatment of sexual and political power. Written for circulation among a group of educated young men, the dialogue's elitism and misogyny also offers a powerful and often disturbing picture of early modern gender relations.
Outrageous and iconoclastic, La Cazzaria was a risqué and provocative text in its day, and remains so today. This first English translation is extensively annotated, and the volume includes a detailed and accessible introduction by Ian Frederick Moulton, author of Before Pornography, which provides a historical and intellectual context for this unfamiliar by fascinating text.
La Cazzaria is at once a stunning literary achievement, and essential reading for anyone interested in the history of sexuality.