Romance Philology (advanced)
A.Y. 2019/2020
Learning objectives
The learning objective of this course is to further explore the historical-comparative study of Romance languages and literature and to introduce the students to the guiding principles of textual criticism and its application regarding Romance medieval texts and their manuscript tradition.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the students will have a detailed knowledge of the Romance literature of the Middle Ages, set against their literary and historical background. The students will learn the principles of textual criticism, with a focus on the manuscript traditions of the texts written in the Romance languages of the Middle Ages. The students will learn the historical grammar of the texts proposed in the course. They will achieve a wider awareness of the importance of the philological study of the texts and of the tools of textual criticism. The students will become skilled in the interpretation of the literary works in their formal aspects, content and broader historical and cultural context. The students will be able to paraphrase Old Italian texts or to translate texts in other Romance languages. The students will apply and understand the secondary literature and different methodological perspectives. The students will comment on and expand upon the texts and the specific topics covered in the course, using properly Romance Philology's technical terms
Lesson period: First semester
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
A-H
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Course title (60 hours and 9 ECTS): «In forma d'uno picciolo libro»: the Filostrato of Giovanni Boccaccio.
Teaching Unit A (20 hours and 3 ECTS): Reading and interpretation of the Filostrato of Giovanni Boccaccio
Teaching Unit B (20 hours and 3 ECTS): Observations of Textual Philology
Teaching Unit C (20 hours and 3 ECTS): Linguistics Considerations
The course is addressed to students of the Degree Course in Humanities, whose surname starts from A to H that have already taken the first year course of this subject. The students who intend to take the exam for 9 ECTS will attend all the three Teaching Units; students who intend to take the exam for 6 ECTS will attend Teaching Units A and B.
The advanced course further explores the insight into Romance Philology provided in the first year course according to a strategy that maintains a comparative view of Romance Language and Literature, and studies more in detail the linguistic problems and deals with the principles of textual criticism, and the philological dimension of the texts. This year's programme will mainly look into the Filostrato of Giovanni Boccaccio (teaching unit A). The poem, in its liric-narrative, "ottava rima" is situated on the strongly innovative path of Boccaccio's literary experiments that will lead to the composition of the Decameron. The work utilises a rich series of literary and courteous ingredients, different sources and lyric traditions, from the Troubadours to Dante, from Ovid to Vergil to Cino da Pistoia and folk "cantari". Dedicated by the author to the beloved woman Philomena in a prologue in prose form to state his distant lover's suffering, the poem belongs to the comic-elegiac genre and elaborates an episode of the Troian subject, as found in sources such as Guido de Columnis' Historia destructionis Troiae and Benoît de Sainte Maure's Roman de Troie, and tells the love story of Priamus' son Troiolo for Calcante's daughter Criseida, that will be taken up again by Chaucer and Shakespeare. The text will be interpreted against the background of inter-textual connections, considering the literary genre, interpretive and philological issues. The teaching of Unit A will present the theme of the monographic course. Unit B introduces the students to the guiding principles of textual criticism and its application in relation to Romance medieval texts and their manuscript tradition. Teaching unit C will focus on the Linguistic features of the text proposed in the course.
Other Information for the students
1. Non-attending students are invited to see the Professor at the office hour for any information regarding their exam.
International students or Erasmus incoming are invited to contact the Professor of the course.
The examination mode for SLD students and/or students with other disabilities will be agreed upon with the Professor in accordance with the competent Office.
2. Students of Degree Courses other than Humanities can substitute Teaching unit C (Linguistics) with other studies agreed with the Professor.
3. The students interested in a thesis in Romance Philology (Three-year degree or Master Programme) are advised to contact the Professor in time in order to define the subject of the thesis
Teaching Unit A (20 hours and 3 ECTS): Reading and interpretation of the Filostrato of Giovanni Boccaccio
Teaching Unit B (20 hours and 3 ECTS): Observations of Textual Philology
Teaching Unit C (20 hours and 3 ECTS): Linguistics Considerations
The course is addressed to students of the Degree Course in Humanities, whose surname starts from A to H that have already taken the first year course of this subject. The students who intend to take the exam for 9 ECTS will attend all the three Teaching Units; students who intend to take the exam for 6 ECTS will attend Teaching Units A and B.
The advanced course further explores the insight into Romance Philology provided in the first year course according to a strategy that maintains a comparative view of Romance Language and Literature, and studies more in detail the linguistic problems and deals with the principles of textual criticism, and the philological dimension of the texts. This year's programme will mainly look into the Filostrato of Giovanni Boccaccio (teaching unit A). The poem, in its liric-narrative, "ottava rima" is situated on the strongly innovative path of Boccaccio's literary experiments that will lead to the composition of the Decameron. The work utilises a rich series of literary and courteous ingredients, different sources and lyric traditions, from the Troubadours to Dante, from Ovid to Vergil to Cino da Pistoia and folk "cantari". Dedicated by the author to the beloved woman Philomena in a prologue in prose form to state his distant lover's suffering, the poem belongs to the comic-elegiac genre and elaborates an episode of the Troian subject, as found in sources such as Guido de Columnis' Historia destructionis Troiae and Benoît de Sainte Maure's Roman de Troie, and tells the love story of Priamus' son Troiolo for Calcante's daughter Criseida, that will be taken up again by Chaucer and Shakespeare. The text will be interpreted against the background of inter-textual connections, considering the literary genre, interpretive and philological issues. The teaching of Unit A will present the theme of the monographic course. Unit B introduces the students to the guiding principles of textual criticism and its application in relation to Romance medieval texts and their manuscript tradition. Teaching unit C will focus on the Linguistic features of the text proposed in the course.
Other Information for the students
1. Non-attending students are invited to see the Professor at the office hour for any information regarding their exam.
International students or Erasmus incoming are invited to contact the Professor of the course.
The examination mode for SLD students and/or students with other disabilities will be agreed upon with the Professor in accordance with the competent Office.
2. Students of Degree Courses other than Humanities can substitute Teaching unit C (Linguistics) with other studies agreed with the Professor.
3. The students interested in a thesis in Romance Philology (Three-year degree or Master Programme) are advised to contact the Professor in time in order to define the subject of the thesis
Prerequisites for admission
The advanced course is aimed at students who have already taken the first year course of this subject
Teaching methods
The course is offered in lecture format; attendance is strongly recommended. The teaching makes use of bibliographical materials such as critical editions, manuals, monographs, essays that will be partly uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform.
Teaching Resources
Bibliographical information and exam programme for attending students:
Teaching Unit A
- For the exam, students are expected to read, and be prepared to paraphrase and to comment upon the Old Italian text of Filostrato. They will study the lecture notes of the course, and some texts and essays.
Text: - Giovanni Boccaccio, Filostrato, ed. by Luigi Surdich, Milano, Mursia, 2019.
Please Note: Filostrato's passages to be prepare for the exam (reading, paraphase and comment) are the following: Prose Prologue: in its entirety; Part I: ottave 1-6; 40-46; Part II: ottave 27; 47; 57-58; 68-74; 76; 80-82; 96-107; 121-127; 131-132; Part III: ottave 1-2; 12; 25-41; Part VIII: 29-33; Part IX: ottave 1-8. The rest of the text is to be read, in order to be familiar with its content.
- Studies: Guido Di Pino, Troiolo Criseida e la poesia dell' «acqua furtiva», in «Italianistica», VII, 3; 1978, pp. 459-472 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform); Giuseppe Chiecchi, «Amor de lonh», epistolografia nelle opere minori del Boccaccio, in «Studi sul Boccaccio», XII, 1980, pp. 175-195 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform); Michelangelo Picone, Il genere del Filostrato, in «Linguistica e letteratura», XXIV, 1-2, 1999, pp. 95-112 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform).
Teaching Unit B
- Attending students will study in detail the notes of the course and the handbook: - A. D'Agostino, Capitoli di filologia testuale. Testi italiani e romanzi, Milano, CUEM, 2006. Theoretical parts and definitions (book's examples are subsidiary and complementary to the understanding of textual philology's topics).
Teaching Unit C
- Attending students will study in detail the notes of the course, and the textbook: - Paola Manni, La lingua di Boccaccio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.
- A file regarding some inter-textual contacts between Filostrato and the elaboration of Troian subject in the Roman de Troie of Benoît de Sainte - Maure will be uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform.
Bibliographical information and exam programme for non-attending students:
Teaching Unit A
- For the exam, students should read, and be prepared to paraphrase and to comment upon the Old Italian text of Filostrato. They will study some texts and studies.
Text: - Giovanni Boccaccio, Filostrato, ed. by Luigi Surdich, Milano, Mursia, 2019.
Please Note: Filostrato's paasages to be prepared for the exam (reading, paraphase and comment) are: Prose Prologue: in its entirety; Part I: ottave 1-6; 40-46; Part II: ottave 27; 47; 57-58; 68-74; 76; 80-82; 96-107; 121-127; 131-132; Part III: ottave 1-2; 12; 25-41; Part VIII: 29-33; Part IX: ottave 1-8.
The rest of the text is to read, in order to be familiar with its content.
- Studies: Guido Di Pino, Troiolo Criseida e la poesia dell' «acqua furtiva», in «Italianistica», VII, 3; 1978, pp. 459-472 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform); Giuseppe Chiecchi, «Amor de lonh», epistolografia nelle opere minori del Boccaccio, in «Studi sul Boccaccio», XII, 1980, pp. 175-195 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform); Michelangelo Picone, Il genere del Filostrato, in «Linguistica e letteratura», XXIV, 1-2, 1999, pp. 95-112 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform); Bruno Porcelli, Il «Filostrato» come elegia imperfetta, in «Esperienze letterarie», XIII, 4, 1988, pp. 3-14 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform); Maria Gozzi, A margine del Filostrato, in «Studi sul Boccaccio», XXXIII, 2005, pp. 65-82 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform).
Teaching Unit B
- A. D'Agostino, Capitoli di filologia testuale. Testi italiani e romanzi, Seconda edizione corretta e accresciuta, Milano, CUEM, 2006.
- Giovanni Orlandi, Latino e volgari nell'Occidente medievale, in Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo. 2 . Il Medioevo volgare. vol. II, La circolazione del testo, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2002, pp. 267-303. (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform).
- Alberto Vàrvaro, Il testo letterario, in Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo. 2 . Il Medioevo volgare. vol. I, La produzione del testo, t. I, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1999, pp. 387-422. ((Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform).
Teaching Unit C
- Paola Manni, La lingua di Boccaccio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.
Teaching Unit A
- For the exam, students are expected to read, and be prepared to paraphrase and to comment upon the Old Italian text of Filostrato. They will study the lecture notes of the course, and some texts and essays.
Text: - Giovanni Boccaccio, Filostrato, ed. by Luigi Surdich, Milano, Mursia, 2019.
Please Note: Filostrato's passages to be prepare for the exam (reading, paraphase and comment) are the following: Prose Prologue: in its entirety; Part I: ottave 1-6; 40-46; Part II: ottave 27; 47; 57-58; 68-74; 76; 80-82; 96-107; 121-127; 131-132; Part III: ottave 1-2; 12; 25-41; Part VIII: 29-33; Part IX: ottave 1-8. The rest of the text is to be read, in order to be familiar with its content.
- Studies: Guido Di Pino, Troiolo Criseida e la poesia dell' «acqua furtiva», in «Italianistica», VII, 3; 1978, pp. 459-472 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform); Giuseppe Chiecchi, «Amor de lonh», epistolografia nelle opere minori del Boccaccio, in «Studi sul Boccaccio», XII, 1980, pp. 175-195 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform); Michelangelo Picone, Il genere del Filostrato, in «Linguistica e letteratura», XXIV, 1-2, 1999, pp. 95-112 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform).
Teaching Unit B
- Attending students will study in detail the notes of the course and the handbook: - A. D'Agostino, Capitoli di filologia testuale. Testi italiani e romanzi, Milano, CUEM, 2006. Theoretical parts and definitions (book's examples are subsidiary and complementary to the understanding of textual philology's topics).
Teaching Unit C
- Attending students will study in detail the notes of the course, and the textbook: - Paola Manni, La lingua di Boccaccio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.
- A file regarding some inter-textual contacts between Filostrato and the elaboration of Troian subject in the Roman de Troie of Benoît de Sainte - Maure will be uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform.
Bibliographical information and exam programme for non-attending students:
Teaching Unit A
- For the exam, students should read, and be prepared to paraphrase and to comment upon the Old Italian text of Filostrato. They will study some texts and studies.
Text: - Giovanni Boccaccio, Filostrato, ed. by Luigi Surdich, Milano, Mursia, 2019.
Please Note: Filostrato's paasages to be prepared for the exam (reading, paraphase and comment) are: Prose Prologue: in its entirety; Part I: ottave 1-6; 40-46; Part II: ottave 27; 47; 57-58; 68-74; 76; 80-82; 96-107; 121-127; 131-132; Part III: ottave 1-2; 12; 25-41; Part VIII: 29-33; Part IX: ottave 1-8.
The rest of the text is to read, in order to be familiar with its content.
- Studies: Guido Di Pino, Troiolo Criseida e la poesia dell' «acqua furtiva», in «Italianistica», VII, 3; 1978, pp. 459-472 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform); Giuseppe Chiecchi, «Amor de lonh», epistolografia nelle opere minori del Boccaccio, in «Studi sul Boccaccio», XII, 1980, pp. 175-195 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform); Michelangelo Picone, Il genere del Filostrato, in «Linguistica e letteratura», XXIV, 1-2, 1999, pp. 95-112 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform); Bruno Porcelli, Il «Filostrato» come elegia imperfetta, in «Esperienze letterarie», XIII, 4, 1988, pp. 3-14 (Uploaded on "Ariel" on-line platform); Maria Gozzi, A margine del Filostrato, in «Studi sul Boccaccio», XXXIII, 2005, pp. 65-82 (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform).
Teaching Unit B
- A. D'Agostino, Capitoli di filologia testuale. Testi italiani e romanzi, Seconda edizione corretta e accresciuta, Milano, CUEM, 2006.
- Giovanni Orlandi, Latino e volgari nell'Occidente medievale, in Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo. 2 . Il Medioevo volgare. vol. II, La circolazione del testo, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2002, pp. 267-303. (Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform).
- Alberto Vàrvaro, Il testo letterario, in Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo. 2 . Il Medioevo volgare. vol. I, La produzione del testo, t. I, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1999, pp. 387-422. ((Uploaded on the Ariel on-line platform).
Teaching Unit C
- Paola Manni, La lingua di Boccaccio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The assessment method consists in an oral exam in which students will present in detail what they have learnt during the course, regarding the Romance literature of the Middle Ages, the principles of textual criticism and the tradition of Romance languages' texts written in the Middle Ages and the language of the texts proposed in the course. Students' evaluation will be based on their ability in paraphrasing the Old Italian text of Filostrato, commenting on, and expanding upon, the texts and the specific topics covered in the course, and their skills in interpreting the formal aspects of the work, in using the secondary literature, several methodological perspectives and Romance Philology's lexicon.
Marks are out of 30.
Marks are out of 30.
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
I-Z
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Unit A (20 hours, 3 cfu): Saladin in the Romance literatures of the Middle Ages
Saladin appears in vernacular texts immediately after his death (end of the twelfth century): he is first presented as an enemy of the Christians, and then becomes a character in several romances and shorter texts. He is an embodiment of the Other, but he is also a mirror for the values of the aristocracy; he sometimes voices the authors' criticism of Western society. This unit will explore the different images of Saladin in texts from the twelfth to the fourteenth century starting from Latin and vernacular historiography.
Unit B (20 hours, 3 cfu): Elements of textual philology
This unit will present the methods for the study of the manuscript tradition and for the preparation of the critical edition of Medieval texts in the Romance vernaculars. Examples will be chosen from the tradition of the texts studied during Unit A and from other vernacular texts.
Unit C (20 hours, 3 cfu): Old French Grammar
This unit will present aspects of Old French phonology, morphology and syntax with examples from the texts studied in Unit A.
Saladin appears in vernacular texts immediately after his death (end of the twelfth century): he is first presented as an enemy of the Christians, and then becomes a character in several romances and shorter texts. He is an embodiment of the Other, but he is also a mirror for the values of the aristocracy; he sometimes voices the authors' criticism of Western society. This unit will explore the different images of Saladin in texts from the twelfth to the fourteenth century starting from Latin and vernacular historiography.
Unit B (20 hours, 3 cfu): Elements of textual philology
This unit will present the methods for the study of the manuscript tradition and for the preparation of the critical edition of Medieval texts in the Romance vernaculars. Examples will be chosen from the tradition of the texts studied during Unit A and from other vernacular texts.
Unit C (20 hours, 3 cfu): Old French Grammar
This unit will present aspects of Old French phonology, morphology and syntax with examples from the texts studied in Unit A.
Prerequisites for admission
This course is addressed to students who have already attended the introductory Romance Philology course and passed the exam.
Teaching methods
The course consists of 30 lectures of 2 hours each. Lectures rely on e-learning material (images of manuscripts, maps, addresses of online dictionaries and databases) uploaded on the Ariel 2.0 website of the course. A pdf of the Power Point presentation used during the course is made available only at the end of each unit. The lectures offer an integrated presentation of all the topics described above, which is not just an explanation of the bibliography; attendance is strongly recommended.
Teaching Resources
Unit A:
- An anthology of the texts to be read and translated will be made available on the Ariel 2.0 website of the course, along with the bibliography for Unit A;
- Gaston Paris, La leggenda di Saladino, a cura di Michele Giardoni, introduzione di Franco Cardini, Roma, Salerno, 1999.
Unit B:
- A. D'Agostino, Capitoli di filologia testuale. Testi italiani e romanzi, seconda edizione corretta e accresciuta, Milano, CUEM, 2006.
Unit C:
- Au. Roncaglia, La lingua d'oïl: avviamento allo studio del francese antico, Roma, Accademia, 1971; reprinted Roma, Fabrizio Serra, 2010.
All the documents uploaded on the Ariel 2.0 website of the course are part of the course's bibliography.
Students who are not able to attend the course need to contact the teacher in order to discuss their preparation for the exam and the topics they may find more difficult, but also to test their pronunciation of Medieval texts. They are strongly recommended to get a good set of notes from the students who have attended the course, in order to prepare a philological and linguistic commentary on the texts.
- An anthology of the texts to be read and translated will be made available on the Ariel 2.0 website of the course, along with the bibliography for Unit A;
- Gaston Paris, La leggenda di Saladino, a cura di Michele Giardoni, introduzione di Franco Cardini, Roma, Salerno, 1999.
Unit B:
- A. D'Agostino, Capitoli di filologia testuale. Testi italiani e romanzi, seconda edizione corretta e accresciuta, Milano, CUEM, 2006.
Unit C:
- Au. Roncaglia, La lingua d'oïl: avviamento allo studio del francese antico, Roma, Accademia, 1971; reprinted Roma, Fabrizio Serra, 2010.
All the documents uploaded on the Ariel 2.0 website of the course are part of the course's bibliography.
Students who are not able to attend the course need to contact the teacher in order to discuss their preparation for the exam and the topics they may find more difficult, but also to test their pronunciation of Medieval texts. They are strongly recommended to get a good set of notes from the students who have attended the course, in order to prepare a philological and linguistic commentary on the texts.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The oral exam will be a survey of the topics discussed during the course. It is aimed at assessing a student's knowledge of literary history, textual philology and linguistics. The exam always begins with the translation of one of the passages analysed during the course; it is necessary for any student to be able to provide a sensible translation in order to pass the exam.
Students taking Unit C can choose to submit a short paper consisting of a linguistic analysis of a short passage in Old French, based on the handbook listed above and on the notes from the lectures.
Marks are out of 30.
National and international students or incoming Erasmus are invited to promptly contact the teacher of the course.
The exam mode for SLD students and/or for students with other disabilities will have to be agreed with the teacher in accordance with the Office in charge.
Students taking Unit C can choose to submit a short paper consisting of a linguistic analysis of a short passage in Old French, based on the handbook listed above and on the notes from the lectures.
Marks are out of 30.
National and international students or incoming Erasmus are invited to promptly contact the teacher of the course.
The exam mode for SLD students and/or for students with other disabilities will have to be agreed with the teacher in accordance with the Office in charge.
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)