Comparative Romance Languages and Literatures
A.Y. 2022/2023
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 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 "Uguccione da Lodi and the Poetics of the End", consists of the following three parts, which will be tackled in sequence. A) Cries in the desert: the voices of the apocalypse in the Medieval Romance area; B) Verses on the threshold between life and death; C) Textual constellations and intersections: Uguccione's clusters. The exam grants 9 CFU; those who wish to acquire only 6 CFU will only prepare parts A and B. Part A, taking as its starting point the «Libro» of Uguccione da Lodi and the «Istoria» of Pseudo Uguccione, will follow the paths of related production in the literature of the Origins on both sides of the Alps, tracing its contacts with other genres, from epic to lyric. Part B will dwell on some of the most memorable passages of this production, in which outbursts of devotion, visionary figurations of the Hereafter, fierce social criticism and skilful figurations of earthly joys are combined in multiple metrical and formal architectures; part C will finally address the problems posed by the respective manuscript tradition and the dynamics of aggregation, contamination and rewriting associated with it.
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: Jean Flori, La fine del mondo nel Medioevo, Bologna, il Mulino, pp. 11-26, 111-157; Manuele Gragnolati, Experiencing the Afterlife: Soul and Body in Dante and Medieval Culture, Notre-Dame, Notre-Dame University Press, 2005, pp. 1-25; Federico Saviotti Le "Rendite della morte": I Versali morali in strofa d'Hélinand, "Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa" 47.2 (2011), pp. 237-255.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Cesare Segre, Le forme e le tradizioni didattiche, in Grundriss der romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters, hrsg. von E. Köhler und H.R. Jauss, VI.1, Heidelberg, Winter, 1968, pp. 58-70; Luca Sacchi, Uguccione da Lodi, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 97, Roma, Treccani, 2020; online, available at https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/uguccione-da-lodi_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29; Id., Uguccione da Lodi, Libro - Pseudo-Uguccione, Istoria, in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390. Edizione critica, dir. da Maria Luisa Meneghetti, coord. edit. di R. Tagliani, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2019, pp. 257-276.
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. For the text of the «Libro» and the «Istoria», however, reference will be made to the edition by Luca Sacchi, in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390, cit., pp. 59-102 and 277-313. The examination of the texts should be accompanied by the following essay: Luca Sacchi, Barlumi infernali nelle carte di Uguçon da Laodho, in Giuseppe Sergio, Massimo Prada (eds.), Italiani di Milano. Studi in onore di Silvia Morgana, Milan, Ledizioni, 2017, pp. 117-130. Further bibliography will be indicated later.
Non-attending students will refer, for the study of Uguccione's and Pseudo-Uguccione's works, to the introductions and commentaries in the aforementioned edition.
Part C
Students will combine their notes with: Maria Luisa Meneghetti, Introduction par. 4 in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390, cit., pp. CXI-CXXX; Claudio Ciociola, Nominare gli anonimi (per Uguccione), in Su/per Gianfranco Contini = "Filologia e Critica" XV.2-3 (1990), pp. 419-33; Carlo Beretta, Su alcune fonti (vere e presunte) del 'Libro' di Uguccione da Lodi, in La cultura dell'Italia padana e la presenza francese nei secoli XIII-XV. Atti del Convegno di Pavia, 11-14 settembre 1994, edited by Luigina Morini, Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 2001, pp. 69-94. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Maria Luisa Meneghetti et alii, Introduction par. 9 in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390, cit., pp. CLII-CLXVI.
Students will combine their notes with: Jean Flori, La fine del mondo nel Medioevo, Bologna, il Mulino, pp. 11-26, 111-157; Manuele Gragnolati, Experiencing the Afterlife: Soul and Body in Dante and Medieval Culture, Notre-Dame, Notre-Dame University Press, 2005, pp. 1-25; Federico Saviotti Le "Rendite della morte": I Versali morali in strofa d'Hélinand, "Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa" 47.2 (2011), pp. 237-255.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Cesare Segre, Le forme e le tradizioni didattiche, in Grundriss der romanischen Literaturen des Mittelalters, hrsg. von E. Köhler und H.R. Jauss, VI.1, Heidelberg, Winter, 1968, pp. 58-70; Luca Sacchi, Uguccione da Lodi, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 97, Roma, Treccani, 2020; online, available at https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/uguccione-da-lodi_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29; Id., Uguccione da Lodi, Libro - Pseudo-Uguccione, Istoria, in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390. Edizione critica, dir. da Maria Luisa Meneghetti, coord. edit. di R. Tagliani, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2019, pp. 257-276.
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. For the text of the «Libro» and the «Istoria», however, reference will be made to the edition by Luca Sacchi, in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390, cit., pp. 59-102 and 277-313. The examination of the texts should be accompanied by the following essay: Luca Sacchi, Barlumi infernali nelle carte di Uguçon da Laodho, in Giuseppe Sergio, Massimo Prada (eds.), Italiani di Milano. Studi in onore di Silvia Morgana, Milan, Ledizioni, 2017, pp. 117-130. Further bibliography will be indicated later.
Non-attending students will refer, for the study of Uguccione's and Pseudo-Uguccione's works, to the introductions and commentaries in the aforementioned edition.
Part C
Students will combine their notes with: Maria Luisa Meneghetti, Introduction par. 4 in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390, cit., pp. CXI-CXXX; Claudio Ciociola, Nominare gli anonimi (per Uguccione), in Su/per Gianfranco Contini = "Filologia e Critica" XV.2-3 (1990), pp. 419-33; Carlo Beretta, Su alcune fonti (vere e presunte) del 'Libro' di Uguccione da Lodi, in La cultura dell'Italia padana e la presenza francese nei secoli XIII-XV. Atti del Convegno di Pavia, 11-14 settembre 1994, edited by Luigina Morini, Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 2001, pp. 69-94. Further bibliography may be indicated later.
Non-attending students will add to the above: Maria Luisa Meneghetti et alii, Introduction par. 9 in Il manoscritto Saibante-Hamilton 390, cit., pp. CLII-CLXVI.
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"