Jane Tylus Elected to Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
Tylus, Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Italian and Professor of Comparative Literature, was inducted into one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious scholarly academies.
Jane Tylus, Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Italian and Professor of Comparative Literature, has been inducted into the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious scholarly academies.
Tylus was inducted on November 8 in recognition of her scholarly achievements in illuminating the literature, culture, and religion of late medieval and early modern Europe. Throughout her career, she has explored the history of the book, issues of literary ownership, religious writing, and women’s literature. Her recent monographs include Siena, City of Secrets (Chicago, 2015) and Who Owns Literature? Early Modernity’s Orphaned Texts, which will be published with Cambridge University Press in January 2025.
Tylus has also been active in the practice and theory of translation. Her translations include contemporary author Dacia Maraini’s novel on Claire of Assisi and the complete poems of Renaissance women writers Gaspara Stampa and Lucrezia Tornabuoni de’ Medici. She edited the journal I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance from 2013-22.
“Jane's scholarship has earned her a position among the foreigners elected to this revered organization—a testament to all she has done for the advancement of Italian literary studies at home and abroad,” said Millicent Marcus, Sarai Ribicoff Professor of Italian Studies.
The Accademia dei Lincei was established in 1603 by Federico Cesi to support the experimental study of the natural sciences, with Galileo Galilei among its first members. Since the late 19th century, the Academy has been made up of two sections: the physical sciences and the “moral sciences” or humanities. Each annual class of fellows is made up of no more than forty-eight members, of whom two-thirds are Italian and up to one-third foreign members.