Machiavelli and Fortune: Between Politics, representation and Fiction.

• Grant number: 25/06289-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Theory
• Principal Investigator: Eunice Ostrensky
• Grantee: Vinícius dos Santos Silva Bertoluzzo
• Supervisor: Francesco Bausi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/18158-1 - Machiavelli and Fortune: between politics, representation and fiction, BP.MS

Abstract

Many studies have focused on Machiavelli's political works, relegating his poetic works to a secondary role. This research proposes a comprehensive approach, incorporating his non-political works, i.e. poems and plays. To this end, we have taken Discorso o Dialogo Intorno Alla Nostra Lingua (1525), a short text on the question of language attributed to Machiavelli, as the key to understanding the linguistic conception that underpins his intellectual production. The research focuses on understanding how the socio-political environment in which Machiavelli lived, amid the transition from Latin to Italian as the primary language, was reflected in his writing. We hypothesise that all this linguistic discussion, surrounded by political conflicts, was decisive for constructing his rhetoric and, consequently, his conception of the political. We will assume a rhetorical reading, i.e. as in his poetic works, the use of rhetorical resources in his political works - such as metaphors, analogies, hyperbole, irony and arguments on both sides of the same issue (in utramque partem) - structures his arguments and mobilises his readers. All this complexity in Machiavelli's writing means that in his political works, we find terms that are not strictly political, such as analogies to figures from nature or mythical beings, such as Fortune. This is where the research in Florence became extremely necessary under Prof. Bausi's supervision. Access to places such as the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana and Italian universities will be essential to deepen the research and allow an integrated reading of Machiavelli's production, linking politics, rhetoric and fiction.