Fashioning Community in Civil (and Uncivil) Conversations

Abstract Chapter 3 focuses on ‘civil conversations’, a subset of Italianate dialogues, inspired by Castiglione’s Courtier. It analyses how these civil conversations provide readers with a model for social interaction, in which disruptive passions are moderated; moments of awkwardness or discord are smoothed over (e.g. through the use of ameliorating laughter); and over-weening behaviour from social superiors is mitigated against (for instance, through the use of luck to select a ‘sovereign’ for