Stories of Birth. Gaspara Stampa

Abstract

With a stroke of genius – and centuries ahead of her time – Gaspara Stampa advances what is now known as the ‘philosophy of birth’, a line of thought associated with thinkers of the stature of Hannah Arendt, María Zambrano, and others. This perspective stands in sharp contrast to the Western tradition, which from its very origins has been shaped around the paradigm of death. By dating the beginning of her love near Christmas – a day marked by universal joy and promise – Stampa sensationally departs from Petrarca’s example, since he traced his first encounter with his beloved to Good Friday, a day of universal mourning. As a result, the poet is able to introduce a series of significant innovations into the canon of lyric poetry, all centered on the awareness that human beings are ‘natal’ before they are ‘mortal’. They honor their capacity to embody the possibility of a new beginning precisely in the way they confront the necessity of their own death.