Abstract
In addition to working in various other genres, Aretino also produced chivalric poetry during the same years that Ariosto was working on the final edition of the Furioso. His first experiment, Marfisa (1532), should have been similar in intent to that of Ariosto’s great ferrarese poem, which is what his patron, Federico Gonzaga, would have wanted. Thus Marfisa, sister of Ruggiero – the founder of Estensi’s dynasty according to Boiardo’s and Ariosto’s poems – appeared to be the best character for celebrating the Gonzaga dynasty. The experiment was largely a failure and Aretino stopped writing after the third canto. Angelica (1536) suffered a similar destiny as Marfisa, from which it draws for a significant portion of the plot. Two other comic-parody experiments, Astolfeida and Orlandino, reached the same ends as Marfisa. The common feature among these four drafts, different in stylistic register, is that of their incomplete nature. Aretino, always an avant-garde figure, can now be regarded as such in this respect as well: writing the unfished poem.