"Professor Quillen has written an interesting book, one free from the deconstructionist and postmodernist jargon that is presently suffocating so much of academic prose. . . . Her controlling theme, that Petrarch as a Renaissance humanist wanted to serve as a mediator between the classical writers of the past and the readers of the present, while enhancing his own status and the moral status of his classical models, is logically developed and clearly presented. . . . As a result of this book, both Augustine and Petrarch can be seen in a different light, one that is supported by close readings of the texts, which basically means that the reader can learn something."
—Paul Strauss, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Ben Jonson Journal
— Paul Strauss, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Ben Jonson Journal
". . . this is a study which is well focused, intelligently constructed, and a useful companion to some of the modern debates around a perennially interesting figure."
—Stephen Minta, University of York, Renaissance Studies, Volume 14, No. 2 (2000)
— Stephen Minta, University of York, Renaissance Studies
". . . Quillen herself is a direct heir to the best of humanist practice when, among other things, she counterposes an Augustine contextually understood to the versions of his thought put forth by Petrarch, a practice that contributes greatly to her important and insightful study."
—Michael L. Monheit, Univ. of South Alabama, Sixteenth Century Journal, Winter 2000
— Michael L. Monheit, Univ. of South Alabama, Sixteenth Century Journal