Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The aim of the course is to enable master students deepen their training in Romance languages and literatures in medieval Europe, accessing from a comparative perspective their works, authors, contexts and genres through the most advanced tools of philology; it will thus give the opportunity to measure the broad horizon within which the literary tradition has to be framed.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course the participants will know extensively the production, circulation and reception dynamics of medieval literary works in Romance Europe; they will also master the most up-to-date methods of historical linguistics and textual criticism, applied to the manuscript and print tradition of texts.
Furthermore, the students will be able to translate or paraphrase accurately works written in different Romance languages, to relate them to each other and to analyze them autonomously, both from a linguistic and from a literary point of view, in light of the most recent developments of criticism; they will also be able to place them in the context in which they were created and to reconstruct their textual and paratextual history, with particular attention to codicological and decorative data.
In addition, students will sharpen their skill to evaluate scientific bibliography independently, observing the development of the critical discussion, and will enhance the ability to expose clearly and properly their knowledge
Furthermore, the students will be able to translate or paraphrase accurately works written in different Romance languages, to relate them to each other and to analyze them autonomously, both from a linguistic and from a literary point of view, in light of the most recent developments of criticism; they will also be able to place them in the context in which they were created and to reconstruct their textual and paratextual history, with particular attention to codicological and decorative data.
In addition, students will sharpen their skill to evaluate scientific bibliography independently, observing the development of the critical discussion, and will enhance the ability to expose clearly and properly their knowledge
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The course, entitled "From Pella to the Oceans: the continent Alexander in Medieval Romania", consists of the following three parts, which will be treated in sequence. A) Alexandrian Orographies: boundaries, reliefs, watersheds; B) Macedonian languages and codes; C) Alexander and the philologists: texts, paratexts, manuscripts, libraries. The examination provides 9 CFU; those who wish to acquire only 6 CFU will only prepare parts A and B. Part A will trace the most significant profiles of the Romance fortune of Alexander the Great within the variegated corpus of medieval European production dedicated to him, with particular attention to the rewriting threads that connected distant linguistic and cultural areas, colouring the figure of the Macedonian leader with new shades. Part B will be devoted to the analysis of emblematic passages of such production, in which the more canonical themes - war, kingship - are flanked by others connected to the control of the word - written and spoken - and to hermeneutic practice. Part C will examine some of the most discussed critical issues in the medieval Romance tradition of the Alexander stories, on the basis of past and recent proposals, as well as a re-examination of material sources.
Prerequisites for admission
The course presupposes the competences in comparative historical grammar of the Romance languages, in history of medieval Romance literatures and text criticism which are provided by the courses of Romance Philology (basic and advanced) of the three-year degree. Students of the degree programme European and extra European languages and literatures who intend to follow it can contact the teacher for some additional bibliography.
Teaching methods
The course adopts the following teaching methods: lectures; translation, commentary and critical discussion of texts; direct, even autonomous, examination of digital reproductions of documents by students, medieval manuscripts and prints, with their decorative apparatus, made available through the course website on the Ariel online educational platform (https://lsacchillnc.ariel.ctu.unimi.it); since both materials are complex subjects of study, written in different languages, attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
Part A
Students will combine their notes with: Peter Dronke, «Introduzione», in Mariantonia Liborio (a cura di), «Alessandro nel Medioevo occidentale», Roma, Fondazione Valla, 1997; Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, «Alexandre et la formation d'un espace littéraire européen», in Ead. (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (xe-xvie siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe», vol. III, Turnhout, Brepols, 2015, pp. 1709-1813; Giovanni Borriero, «Sources et auteurs dans la matière d'Alexandre: considérations préliminaires», «Medioevi» 2 (2016), pp. 71-106. Further bibliography will be indicated later.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, «L'Alexandre en français et ses univers littéraires multiples», in Ead. (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (xe-xvie siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe», vol. I, Turnhout, Brepols, 2014, pp. 199-277; Michele Campopiano, «Langues et genres littéraires de l'Alexandre italien«, ivi, pp. 323-362; Amaia Arizaleta, «Alexandre aux origines de la langue et de la littérature hispanique», ivi, pp. 363-411.
Part B
At the beginning of the unit students will be provided with a booklet with excerpts from the works to be translated and commented in class and further materials. The examination of the texts should be accompanied by the following essays: Amaia Arizaleta, Hugo Ó. Bizzarri e Fernanda Nussbaum, «Alexandre le Grand et les idéaux politiques de la cour de Castille et Léon», in Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand», cit., II, 2015, pp. 955-1017; Charles Russel Stone, «Proud Kings, Polyglot Scribes, and the I³ "Historia de preliis": The Origins of Latin Alexander Romance in Norman and Staufen Italy», «Speculum» 91.3 (2016), pp. 724-744; Clara Pascual-Argente, «Memory, Media, and Empire in the Castilian Romances of Antiquity: Alexander's Heirs», Leiden, Brill, 2022, pp. 71-114. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students may use as support for textual analysis the entries on the works (and eventual commentary pages) contained in the aforementioned volume «Alessandro nel Medioevo occidentale» Roma, Fondazione Valla, 1997.
Part C
Students will combine their notes with: David J.A. Ross, «Alexander Historiatus, a Guide to Medieval Illustrated Alexander Literature», London, 1963, passim; Maria Luisa Meneghetti, «Alessandro e famiglia. La circolazione dei romanzi di materia greca nell'Italia della prima metà del XIII secolo», in «Mito e storia nella tradizione cavalleresca. Atti del XLII Convegno storico internazionale (Todi 9-12 ottobre 2005)», Spoleto, Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 2006, pp. 347-362; François Zufferey, «Perspectives nouvelles sur l'Alexandre d'Auberi de Besançon», «Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie» 123.3 (2007), pp. 385-418; Jorge García López, «Reflexiones sobre la edición crítica del Libro de Alexandre», «Atalaya» 15 (2015), on line, available at http://journals.openedition.org/atalaya/1531; Maud Pérez-Simon, «Science and Learning in the Middle Ages: Le Roman d'Alexandre en prose - A study of Ms Stockholm, Royal Library Vu 20», in Markus Stock (ed. by), «Alexander the Great in the Middle Ages: Transcultural Perspectives», Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2016, pp. 217-243; Stefano Resconi, «'Tracce'? L'Alexandre di Alberico da Besançon e il "Sirventese lombardesco" nel loro contesto manoscritto», «Linguae &» 1 (2018), pp. 63-79. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students will be able to use as support the documentation on the tradition of the works cited in volume IV of the aforementioned Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (xe-xvie siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe», Turnhout, Brepols, 2015, as well as the essays contained in Z. David Zuwiyya, (ed. by) «A companion to Alexander literature in the Middle Ages», Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2011.
Students will combine their notes with: Peter Dronke, «Introduzione», in Mariantonia Liborio (a cura di), «Alessandro nel Medioevo occidentale», Roma, Fondazione Valla, 1997; Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, «Alexandre et la formation d'un espace littéraire européen», in Ead. (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (xe-xvie siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe», vol. III, Turnhout, Brepols, 2015, pp. 1709-1813; Giovanni Borriero, «Sources et auteurs dans la matière d'Alexandre: considérations préliminaires», «Medioevi» 2 (2016), pp. 71-106. Further bibliography will be indicated later.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, «L'Alexandre en français et ses univers littéraires multiples», in Ead. (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (xe-xvie siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe», vol. I, Turnhout, Brepols, 2014, pp. 199-277; Michele Campopiano, «Langues et genres littéraires de l'Alexandre italien«, ivi, pp. 323-362; Amaia Arizaleta, «Alexandre aux origines de la langue et de la littérature hispanique», ivi, pp. 363-411.
Part B
At the beginning of the unit students will be provided with a booklet with excerpts from the works to be translated and commented in class and further materials. The examination of the texts should be accompanied by the following essays: Amaia Arizaleta, Hugo Ó. Bizzarri e Fernanda Nussbaum, «Alexandre le Grand et les idéaux politiques de la cour de Castille et Léon», in Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand», cit., II, 2015, pp. 955-1017; Charles Russel Stone, «Proud Kings, Polyglot Scribes, and the I³ "Historia de preliis": The Origins of Latin Alexander Romance in Norman and Staufen Italy», «Speculum» 91.3 (2016), pp. 724-744; Clara Pascual-Argente, «Memory, Media, and Empire in the Castilian Romances of Antiquity: Alexander's Heirs», Leiden, Brill, 2022, pp. 71-114. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students may use as support for textual analysis the entries on the works (and eventual commentary pages) contained in the aforementioned volume «Alessandro nel Medioevo occidentale» Roma, Fondazione Valla, 1997.
Part C
Students will combine their notes with: David J.A. Ross, «Alexander Historiatus, a Guide to Medieval Illustrated Alexander Literature», London, 1963, passim; Maria Luisa Meneghetti, «Alessandro e famiglia. La circolazione dei romanzi di materia greca nell'Italia della prima metà del XIII secolo», in «Mito e storia nella tradizione cavalleresca. Atti del XLII Convegno storico internazionale (Todi 9-12 ottobre 2005)», Spoleto, Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, 2006, pp. 347-362; François Zufferey, «Perspectives nouvelles sur l'Alexandre d'Auberi de Besançon», «Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie» 123.3 (2007), pp. 385-418; Jorge García López, «Reflexiones sobre la edición crítica del Libro de Alexandre», «Atalaya» 15 (2015), on line, available at http://journals.openedition.org/atalaya/1531; Maud Pérez-Simon, «Science and Learning in the Middle Ages: Le Roman d'Alexandre en prose - A study of Ms Stockholm, Royal Library Vu 20», in Markus Stock (ed. by), «Alexander the Great in the Middle Ages: Transcultural Perspectives», Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2016, pp. 217-243; Stefano Resconi, «'Tracce'? L'Alexandre di Alberico da Besançon e il "Sirventese lombardesco" nel loro contesto manoscritto», «Linguae &» 1 (2018), pp. 63-79. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students will be able to use as support the documentation on the tradition of the works cited in volume IV of the aforementioned Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, (dir. par), «La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (xe-xvie siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe», Turnhout, Brepols, 2015, as well as the essays contained in Z. David Zuwiyya, (ed. by) «A companion to Alexander literature in the Middle Ages», Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2011.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam is individual, and includes questions asked by the teacher, interactions between the teacher and student, and the translation and commentary of one or more excerpts from the works read during the lectures. The interview has a variable duration depending on the number of parts taken by the student; it aims to verify the knowledge relating to the historical-cultural context, the history of the works and their manuscript and printed tradition, as well as the ability to translate (or paraphrase) and comment on the texts read, as well as the ability to expose, the precision in the use of specific terminology, the capacity for critical and personal reflection on the proposed themes. Marks are out of 30, and the student has the right to refuse the proposed mark (in this case it will be verbalized as «withdrawn»).
International or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher early. The assessment procedures for students with disabilities and / or with DSA must be discussed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent Office.
International or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher early. The assessment procedures for students with disabilities and / or with DSA must be discussed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent Office.
Unita' didattica A
L-FIL-LET/09 - ROMANCE PHILOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-FIL-LET/09 - ROMANCE PHILOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-FIL-LET/09 - ROMANCE PHILOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)
Reception:
By appointment only, wednesday 10.00-13.00
Teams class "Ricevimento Luca Sacchi"