Originally published in 1622, Love in the Mirror tells the
unforgettable and path-breaking story of a passionate love affair
between two women in early modern Florence. Despite the risk of social
sanctions, Florinda and Lidia freely consent to love each other "breast
to breast and mouth to mouth," with some surprising consequences for the
institution of marriage.
This bilingual edition of the play introduces the English-speaking
reader to one of the most remarkable creative artists of the Baroque
age, Giovan Battista Andreini (1576-1654). Actor, playwright, and son of
the first great diva of the European stage, Isabella Andreini, Giovan
Battista was renowned in his lifetime as an avant-garde theatrical
innovator. While drawing on the Italian commedia dell'arte, his
comedies go far beyond its limits in order-- like Calderón, Corneille
and Shakespeare--to subvert traditional views of the relationship
between art and life, representation and reality.
Love in the Mirror, which was lost from view for centuries, is here
translated for the first time into a highly accessible and fully
annotated English version. The volume includes a wideranging
introduction to this experimental comic masterpiece, as well as to the
life and works of G.B. Andreini.