ROMANCE PHILOLOGY I

The Vernacular Culture in the Romance Middle Ages (12th-14th c.): An Introduction. 1. The Fin'amor and the chivalrous imagery: the romance and the 'novella'.
Romance philology is part of the characterizing didactic activities.
'Court love', 'chivalry' and 'courtesy' are some of the objects that the modern imagination has inherited from the Romance cultural tradition of the Middle Ages. In this series of lessons these themes will be discussed through the direct and commented reading of some literary objects extracted from the French and Italian traditions, and attributable to the romance-form (which will be analyzed in a contrasting way to the modern one) and to the form of the 'novella' (short story).

Knowledge.
- basic knowledge of comparative literature (Romance Middle Ages);
- knowledge of the fundamental theoretical-methodological elements of medieval philology;
- knowledge of the essential elements of the morphosyntactic structure of a medieval Romance language (Old French).
Skills.
- ability to apply, in concrete and specific cases, the theoretical-methodological tools typical of the comparative analysis of texts belonging to different linguistic identities;
- ability to reflect on the peculiarities of linguistic use in the literary field (Italian and medieval French) through the exercise of translation.

It may be useful to have already attended the courses of "Fundamentals of Linguistics" and "Philology Institutions" (and having passed their exams); an elementary knowledge of the Latin language, of Medieval history and Italian literature of the Origins can help a lot.

Reading of texts in Old French (translation and commentary) and in Old Italian; notions of literary history on the romance, the 'novella' and the medieval short novel (fabliau, exemplum).

The texts to be commented on will be provided in digital format during the lectures on the Moodle platform (many will be extracted from A. Varvaro, Avviamento alla filologia francese medievale", Roma, NIS/Carocci - any edition).
Mandatory study text: Eugenio Burgio, Filologia romanza. 3. Analisi letteraria, Firenze-Milano, Le Monnier-Mondadori 2022, capp. 1, 4.1-3, 5, 6.1, 6.3.
Full reading (in Italian) of two texts chosen from a list that will be provided at the beginning of the lessons.

The exam consists of two parts:
(a) discussion of the texts chosen for individual reading (plots, characters, themes);
(b) the analysis of the themes and texts presented in class and in the bibliography.
The exam is oral; having passed the exam related to the exercises. is the precondition for taking the Filologia romanza 1 exam.

Old French texts will be presented, read and commented according to the traditional ways of text interpretation.

1. "Romance Philology I" is the first part of the "Romance Philology" course for those who are required to 12 ECTS of this discipline; the second part ("Romance Philology II") will be held in the fourth term.
2. Personalized programs are provided for students who cannot attend classes, which will be administered after a personal meeting during student reception hours.
3. During the year, a seminar will be held, open to students of the three-year course, to students of the specialist course and to anyone interested. Part a first part (October-December 2022) will be dedicated to the manuscript tradition of prose novels; the second (February-May 2023) on modern imagery (19th-21st century) on the Arthurian myth. Active attendance (translation exercises, interventions at the seminar) will entitle everyone to 3 credits of activity equivalent to an internship. Information on dates and times will be provided at the beginning of the 2022-2023 courses.

written and oral