Timothy Kircher, H. Curt ’56 and Patricia S. ’57 Hege Professor of History, published an article on Renaissance letter-writing and narrative medicine entitled “The Community of Letters in Renaissance Italy” in the latest edition of the journal Antike und Abendland.
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The essay explores how Renaissance humanists, in particular Francesco Petrarch and Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, developed the use of 'humanitas' — understood as both culture and care — in their letter collections. As a form of narrative medicine, letters created a dialogue that demonstrated the role of learning in the concern for friends.