MEDIEVAL AND HUMANISTIC LATIN SCRIPTS AND TRADITION

The seminar is one of the training activities of the degree course in Literature and aims to provide a picture of medieval Latin culture, through direct reading and analysis of texts and their historical and cultural contextualization. The main objectives are: to introduce the knowledge of Latin literature in the Middle Ages, and in general of Latin written culture in the period 800-1300; to strengthen the reading and analysis skills of medieval literary texts in Latin, through an in-depth contextualization; to orient oneself in critical methodologies, through a direct comparison with the critical bibliography and a discussion of the results of the current debate on medieval culture.

1. Knowledge and understanding
- Knowledge of the development of medieval Latin culture;
- theoretical-methodological knowledge of the problems related to the matter.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
- Ability to critically elaborate issues related to basic literary knowledge;
- ability to apply, to concrete and specific cases, the theoretical-methodological tools learned;
- ability to analyze a literary text and place it in the correct historical-cultural context.

3. Ability of judgement
- Know how to develop a critical approach, which allows to evaluate the different interpretations and evaluations of a text and to formulate personal hypotheses.

4. Communication skills
- Know how to communicate the specificities of the subject using appropriate terminology.

5. Learning skills
- Know how to critically consult the reference texts and bibliography.

Elementary Knowledge of Latin.

The literary culture of the Middle Ages was a decisive laboratory for the formation of socio-cultural categories that are familiar to us: the birth of the intellectual, the university, the laborious definition of a cultural space for the laity, cultural differentiation on a regional basis and the birth of vulgar languages. These great phenomena, often neglected in secondary school, are conveyed in Latin, and this has allowed an intellectual debate on a very wide European scale (albeit in the framework of a fragmentation of powers).
Within this very broad framework, the course will focus on the Italian area in the Middle Ages. The choice stems from the lively contemporary debate of scholars, who have identified Italian culture in the long centuries of the Central Middle Ages (VIII-XIV century) as the main vehicle for a new relationship with classical culture practiced by lay intellectuals. This relationship was formed through a long and conflictual path between different conceptions of the book, culture and language, as Ronald Witt demonstrated in the book 'L'eccezione italiana'.
The course will retrace the hypothesis of this scholar, comparing them with other important historiographical constructions (in particular those of Auerbach, Banniard, Curtius) and verifying it through a direct analysis of a rich choice of texts in Latin. The texts will be contextualized, with particular attention to their context of production, their intended use, the historical-social figure of its author and its reference milieu.

An anthology of texts will fournished by the teacher into the moodle space.

Reference text (which the exam will focus on)

- R. WITT, L'eccezione italiana. L'intellettuale laico nel Medioevo e l'origine del Rinascimento (800-1300), Carocci, Roma 2017 (but later economic editions exist).

Readings that will be discussed in class:

- E. AUERBACH, Lingua letteraria e pubblico nella tarda antichità latina e nel Medioevo, Milano, Feltrinelli (various editions);
- M. BANNIARD, Viva Voce Communication écrite et communication orale du IVe au IXe siècle, IEA, Paris 1992;
- E.R. CURTIUS, Letteratura europea e Medio Evo latino, tra. it., La Nuova Italia, Florence 1992.

Recommended Supplementary Readings:
- Letteratura latina medievale (secoli VI-XV). Un manuale, a cura di C. Leonardi, SISMEL-Edizioni del Galluzzo, Firenze 2002;
- P. CHIESA, La trasmissione dei testi latini. Storia e metodo critico, Carocci, Roma 2019, pp. 15-60.

Students who are not attending (who must contact the teacher to discuss the material on which to prepare the exam) are required to add to the bibliography indicated above the reading of P. CHIESA, La letteratura latina del medioevo. Un profilo storico, Carocci, Roma 2017.

The examination will take place in written and oral form.

Conventional: frontal lessons.

Italian

written and oral