SOURCE: Weinberg, Bernard. “The Quarrel Over Guarini's Pastor Fido.” In A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance, Volume II, pp. 1074-1105. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961.

In the following essay, Weinberg probes the influence of Il pastor fido on the shaping of dramatic theories in turn-of-the-seventeenth-century Italy: he summarizes published critical discussions of the play by Guarini's contemporaries and the playwright's responses to their criticism, both of which appeared over a fifteen-year period.

The last of the literary quarrels of the Cinquecento began toward the end of the century and continued on into the Seicento. Since only that part of the quarrel which falls within the Cinquecento will be treated here, it will seem to be less extensive and briefer than the other quarrels. In fact, there are relatively few documents to be considered in connection with the Cinquecento phase of the quarrel. The work...