Dr. Rhiannon Daniels

Biography

Rhiannon J Daniels is an Associate Professor in the Department of Italian at the University of Bristol. Her work focuses on Italian medieval and Renaissance literary culture, particularly the fourteenth-century author, Giovanni Boccaccio, and how his works have been read and produced in Italy. She is a book historian interested in the material presentation of texts, including paratexts and the design of pages in manuscripts and early printed books. Her research investigates the processes and contexts surrounding the production of texts by scribes, rubricators, illuminators, compositors, editors, publishers, printers, and others involved in the book industry. In 2021, she co-established the Bristol Common Press with colleagues from English Studies, which functions as a working historical print shop and collaborative laboratory to explore new methodologies in practice-based research on textual cultures. Daniels is the author of the monograph, 'Boccaccio's Book: Production and Reading in Italy 1340-1520' and has co-edited works including 'The Cambridge Companion to Boccaccio' and the forthcoming 'History of Poetry in Italy: 1200-1600'. Her current monograph project focuses on how life writing has facilitated the canonization of Boccaccio as a vernacular author, contributing to the development of new audiences for vernacular texts. She is open to discussing proposals for postgraduate research projects in medieval and early modern Italian literature, culture, print culture, and reception studies.

Research Interests

Awards