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Allen, Michael J. 		 
Allen, Michael J.
Distinguished Professor
Humanities 292
Tel: 310.825.1531
Fax: 310.267.4339
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Education

  • B.A., and M.A. in English, D.Litt. in History, Wadham College, Oxford, 1964, 1966, 1987
  • Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1970

Interests

English medieval and Renaissance literature especially Shakespeare; Italian Quattrocento literature; Renaissance philosophy, especially the Platonism of Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola.

Selected Works

  • Marsilio Ficino: The Philebus Commentary (1975)
  • Marsilio Ficino and the Phaedran Charioteer (1981)
  • The Platonism of Marsilio Ficino (1984)
  • Icastes: Marsilio Ficino's Interpretation of Plato's 'Sophist' (1989)
  • Nuptial Arithmetic: Marsilio Ficino's Commentary on the Fatal Number in Book VIII of Plato's 'Republic' (1994)
  • Plato's Third Eye: Studies in Marsilio Ficino's Metaphysics and its Sources (1995)
  • Synoptic Art: Marsilio Ficino on the History of Platonic Interpretation (1998)
  • Marsilio Ficino: Platonic Theology, Ed. and tr. with James Hankins, six vols. (2001-2006)
Has also coauthored: Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry: the Major Latin Texts (1976), and coedited Shakespeare's Plays in Quarto (1982), Sir Philip Sidney's Achievements (1989), and Marsilio Ficino: His Theology, His Philosophy, His Legacy (2002).

Additional Information

Teaches the range of English literature from the Anglo-Saxons to Milton, and especially Chaucer and Shakespeare, but his research Interests are centered on the philosophical, theological, magical, and mythological issues explored by the fifteenth century Italian Platonists, Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. Twice Former Director of UCLA's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and former Senior Editor of Renaissance Quarterly, he is a past President of the Renaissance Society of America (2006-08) and a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar (2007-08). Honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship; the Eby Award for Undergraduate Teaching; UCLA's Faculty Research Lectureship; visiting professorships at Munich, Toronto, Tempe, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; the Commendatore decoration from the Italian Republic; and in 2008 the International Galileo Galilei Prize for his work on Florentine Platonism. He is also a member of UCLA's Department of Italian.

 
           

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