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Writing and the paradox of the self: Machiavelli's literary vocation*.(Niccolo Machiavelli)

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From: Renaissance Quarterly
Date: 20060322
Author:Bernard, John

1. THE PROBLEMATIC SELF

One need no longer apologize for thinking of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) as preeminently a writer. Though the ghost of the coolly analytical theorist still occasionally haunts the critical scene, for more than thirty years the consensus has viewed him primarily as an inventive genius, a man of passionate imagination. (1) This view has sometimes led to a split between Machiavelli the father of political science and Machiavelli the artist, or even between politics and ethics. (2) But this dichotomy easily resolves itself into a more coherent image of ...

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