Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures
A.Y. 2019/2020
Learning objectives
The course aims to enable students improve their knowledge of Romance languages and literatures in medieval Europe, accessing their works, authors, contexts and genres in a comparative perspective, through the most advanced tools of philology.
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 cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The course, entitled Brunetto Latini and the Tresor in Romance Europe, consists of the following three teaching units, which will be addressed in sequence: A) In the footsteps of Brunetto, character and author; B) Inside the text of the Tresor: selected pages; C) The European and Mediterranean tradition of the Tresor: philological and linguistic questions. The exam provides 9 credits; those who intend to acquire only 6 credit will prepare units A and B.
Teaching unit A will retrace the biographical and literary path of Brunetto Latini, Dante's master: it will be possible to focus on the distance between the data offered by literary works (his own and others') and the archive sources, as many details still remain unknown. Teaching unit B will focus on the Tresor, the most successful Romance encyclopedia in the late Middle Ages: we will experience the richness and originality of its contents, compared with Latin and Romance sources, as well as possible contacts with the work of the author's most famous disciple. Unit C will address the main philological and linguistic issues related to the composition and propagation of the Tresor in Europe, including traces of its Mediterranean fortune, from the East (in the Crusader kingdoms of Outremer) to the West (Castile and Aragon).
Teaching unit A will retrace the biographical and literary path of Brunetto Latini, Dante's master: it will be possible to focus on the distance between the data offered by literary works (his own and others') and the archive sources, as many details still remain unknown. Teaching unit B will focus on the Tresor, the most successful Romance encyclopedia in the late Middle Ages: we will experience the richness and originality of its contents, compared with Latin and Romance sources, as well as possible contacts with the work of the author's most famous disciple. Unit C will address the main philological and linguistic issues related to the composition and propagation of the Tresor in Europe, including traces of its Mediterranean fortune, from the East (in the Crusader kingdoms of Outremer) to the West (Castile and Aragon).
Prerequisites for admission
The course presupposes the basic competences in Romance Philology, acquired through the exams of the three-year degree, regarding text criticism and historical grammar of Romance languages, as well as the knowledge of the outline of Romance literatures during the Middle Ages.
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/v5/Home/); since both materials are complex subjects of study, written in different languages, attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
Teaching unit A
Students will combine their notes with the following papers: Pietro Beltrami, Tre schede sul Tresor, «Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa», serie III, 23 (1993), pp. 133-50; Iolanda Ventura, L'iconografia letteraria di Brunetto Latini, «Studi medievali», 38 (1997), pp. 499-528; Rita Librandi, La didattica fondante di Brunetto Latini. Una lettura del Tesoretto, «Cahiers de Recherches Médiévales et Humanistes», 23 (2012), pp. 156-172; further bibliography may be indicated later. For the text of the Tesoretto and Favolello, whose extracts will be read in class, we will use the edition in Poeti del Duecento, ed. by Gianfranco Contini, Milan-Naples, II, 1960, pp. 169-284.
Teaching unit B
At the beginning of the unit, students will be provided with a booklet, with the Tresor excerpts to be translated and commented in class and further materials; the reference edition is Brunetto Latini, Tresor, dir. by Pietro Beltrami, Turin, 2007, which will be compared with those of Chabaille (Paris, 1863) and Carmody (Los Angeles, 1948). Further bibliography will be added later.
Teaching unit C
At the beginning of the unit students will be provided with a booklet, which will contain extracts from the Tresor and its Romance translations to be commented in class with comparative materials. Further bibliography will be added later.
Bibliographic indications for non-attending students
Teaching unit A
Non-attending students will study the biographical profile Latini, Brunetto, by Giorgio Inglese, in the Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 64 (2005).
Teaching unit B
Non-attending students are invited to contact the professor for further information on how to integration supplement materials included in the booklet, which is shared with attending students. A starting point will be offered by the introduction to Brunetto Latini, Tresor, dir. by Pietro Beltrami, Turin, 2007, pp. VII-XXXI.
Teaching unit C
As a support to the study of the texts in the booklet, non-attending students will use Pietro Beltrami, Appunti su vicende del Tresor: composizione, letture, riscritture, in L'enciclopedismo medievale, a c. di Michelangelo Picone, Ravenna, Longo, 1994, pp. 318-2; Fabio Zinelli, «Tradizione 'mediterranea' e tradizione italiana del Livre dou tresor», in Irene Maffia Scariati (ed.), A scuola con ser Brunetto. La ricezione di Brunetto Latini dal medioevo al rinascimento. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi (Basilea, 8-10 giugno 2006), Firenze, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2008, 35-88; Luca Sacchi, Risalendo la corrente: il Libro del Tesoro castigliano e la sua fonte, in Isabel de Riquer, Dominique Billy, Giovanni Palumbo (éd.), Actes du XXVIIe Congrès international de linguistique et de philologie romanes (Nancy, 15-20 juillet 2013). Section 14: Littératures médiévales, Nancy, ATILF, 2017, pp. 195-206, online, available in the AIR archive of the University of Milan.
Students will combine their notes with the following papers: Pietro Beltrami, Tre schede sul Tresor, «Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa», serie III, 23 (1993), pp. 133-50; Iolanda Ventura, L'iconografia letteraria di Brunetto Latini, «Studi medievali», 38 (1997), pp. 499-528; Rita Librandi, La didattica fondante di Brunetto Latini. Una lettura del Tesoretto, «Cahiers de Recherches Médiévales et Humanistes», 23 (2012), pp. 156-172; further bibliography may be indicated later. For the text of the Tesoretto and Favolello, whose extracts will be read in class, we will use the edition in Poeti del Duecento, ed. by Gianfranco Contini, Milan-Naples, II, 1960, pp. 169-284.
Teaching unit B
At the beginning of the unit, students will be provided with a booklet, with the Tresor excerpts to be translated and commented in class and further materials; the reference edition is Brunetto Latini, Tresor, dir. by Pietro Beltrami, Turin, 2007, which will be compared with those of Chabaille (Paris, 1863) and Carmody (Los Angeles, 1948). Further bibliography will be added later.
Teaching unit C
At the beginning of the unit students will be provided with a booklet, which will contain extracts from the Tresor and its Romance translations to be commented in class with comparative materials. Further bibliography will be added later.
Bibliographic indications for non-attending students
Teaching unit A
Non-attending students will study the biographical profile Latini, Brunetto, by Giorgio Inglese, in the Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 64 (2005).
Teaching unit B
Non-attending students are invited to contact the professor for further information on how to integration supplement materials included in the booklet, which is shared with attending students. A starting point will be offered by the introduction to Brunetto Latini, Tresor, dir. by Pietro Beltrami, Turin, 2007, pp. VII-XXXI.
Teaching unit C
As a support to the study of the texts in the booklet, non-attending students will use Pietro Beltrami, Appunti su vicende del Tresor: composizione, letture, riscritture, in L'enciclopedismo medievale, a c. di Michelangelo Picone, Ravenna, Longo, 1994, pp. 318-2; Fabio Zinelli, «Tradizione 'mediterranea' e tradizione italiana del Livre dou tresor», in Irene Maffia Scariati (ed.), A scuola con ser Brunetto. La ricezione di Brunetto Latini dal medioevo al rinascimento. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi (Basilea, 8-10 giugno 2006), Firenze, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2008, 35-88; Luca Sacchi, Risalendo la corrente: il Libro del Tesoro castigliano e la sua fonte, in Isabel de Riquer, Dominique Billy, Giovanni Palumbo (éd.), Actes du XXVIIe Congrès international de linguistique et de philologie romanes (Nancy, 15-20 juillet 2013). Section 14: Littératures médiévales, Nancy, ATILF, 2017, pp. 195-206, online, available in the AIR archive of the University of Milan.
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 teaching units 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"