With Love Enamored and Driven Mad, Lucrezia Marinella puts her mark on classical mythology and literary antecedents. She transforms Cupid from all-powerful god to wayward adolescent who falls to his own haughtiness while having female characters (such as Venus) take on distinctly positive roles. From the literary standpoint, she demonstrates her deep knowledge of classical and vernacular authors, from Ovid to Apuleius and Prudentius, and from Dante to Tasso, with numerous forays into Petrarchan poetics.

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe - The Toronto Series, volume 72