venetian literature and publishing 619
the sale of Venetian books outside the republic and outside the penin-
sula, which promises important insights into the diffusion of ideas.
reactions to the popularization of printing were not entirely positive.
the rapid rate of publication raised concerns that knowledge would be cor-
rupted by untutored printers more interested in profits than in correctly
produced texts. inexpensive copies of classical myths and love poetry,
soon translated into the vernacular, became easily available to even the
very young and were seen as posing pagan and lascivious models that
would loosen their morals. Contemporary entertainment genres and even
bembo’s Asolani provoked similar concerns. authors were concerned that
their works were more easily appropriated by others or, particularly in
the case of theatrical texts that could be obtained by printers from actors,
could be printed against their wishes. Printers worried that pirate edi-
tions would sharply reduce their profits. greater fears were raised by the
prospect of error-filled copies of religious texts and sermons that would
result in heresy and eternal damnation. such dangers were exacerbated
by illustrations, cheaply produced as woodcuts. Civil and religious author-
ities undertook various efforts at censorship, with some even exhorting
the doge to banish printing.
Il CinquecentoThe Early Decades: Wartime Disruption and Renewed Creativity
the early years of the 16th century were not kind to Venetian literature
and publishing. Conflicts between Venice and european powers and
the Ottoman state, which had begun to crop up in the late 15th century,
turned into an almost continuous series of wars. the League of Cambrai,
which formed in 1508, arrayed virtually all the powers of europe against
the republic, provoking a war lasting until 1517 that more than once
saw Venice lose control of its mainland dominion. the fighting of much
of the war on Venetian mainland territory had a bifurcated effect. On
the one hand it absorbed the energies of many leading patricians and,
by making supply and distribution virtually impossible, definitively
interrupted publishing. On the other, by closing the university of Padua
and disrupting much commercial activity, it idled large segments of the
readerly public, who turned to various literary, theatrical, and intellectual
endeavors as substitutes for their normal activities. among the genres
whose production it stimulated were works in mainland dialects aimed
at enhancing the Venetian affiliation of lower-class populations who were