Minerva e lo scimmione

A sustained polemic that attacks established philological methods and scholarly fashions, the text combines argumentative essays, ironic commentary, and rebuttals to critics. It analyzes methodological faults in textual criticism and editorial practice, critiques the scientistic pretensions of certain academic approaches, and narrates the public controversy and anonymous attacks provoked by its publication. Organized into focused chapters and supplemented by appendices on large-scale editions, the condition of national publishing, and a probing interview, the work advocates for intellectual honesty and patient reform, urging disputes to be settled by argument rather than by personal insinuation or clandestine tactics.