The scroll of love by Immanuel of Rome: A Hebrew parody of Dante's Vita Nuova

Te affinity between the Scroll of Love in the Maÿbarot by Immanuel of Rome (1265-1335?) and the Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) has long been discussed by Hebrew scholars in terms of influence and imitation. What the present study suggests is that the Scroll of Love is, in fact, a parody of Dante's sublime youthful work, and that the elements traditionally read as pseudo-autobiography are instead literary elements contributing to the parody. To strengthen her thesis the author draws attention to the Rota Veneris, a thirteenth-century work parodying the literary traditions of amor carnalis and amor spiritualis, and also notes a curious parallel with Boccaccio's Filostrato and the changing ways scholars have read that work over the centuries.