Implizite Selbstautorisierung: Tommaso Sardis <i>Anima peregrina</i> (I, 21 und 22) und die Begegnung mit der Seele ‚Dantes‘

Abstract Early Modern Italian literature was significantly shaped by the principles of imitation and (literary) authority. This article focuses on the latter and explores the main tendencies of self-authorization in Tommaso Sardi’s Anima peregrina , a hitherto little-known terza rima poem written between 1493 and 1509 and situated within the tradition of Dante’s Commedia and subsequent allegorical-encyclopedic poetry. Self-authorization in Anima peregrina , however, takes a rather implicit form, allowing the text to deploy related strategies while ostensibly aligning with strict Christian poetics such as Savonarola’s. This (implicit) self-authorization is revealed here through a close reading of chapters 21 and 22 of Book I of Anima peregrina , which address Poesia and the protagonist’s encounter with the soul of ‘Dante’. The article also considers the significance of Dante and the Commedia for Sardi by analyzing mentions of Dante within the poem and its paratexts, including its extensive self-commentary.