48
Romance Philology and Linguistics
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
- analyze one or more medieval romance systems in greater detail (in this case, the Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance systems);
- explore one or more genres of medieval romance literature (in this case the French and Spanish epics), dealing fully with their formal and content features;
- analyze and comment from a philological, literary-historical, rhetorical and linguistic point of view on the texts under study (in this case, the Chanson de Roland, the Couronnement de Louis, the Charroi de Nîmes, the Prise d'Orange and the Cantar de mio Cid);
- learn the problems and techniques of textual ecdotic;
- master the methodological tools of literary analysis and comparatistics.
The objectives and expected learning outcomes are coherent with the educational objectives of the degree course for which the course is offered, i.e.: ‘philological reflection, analysis of the text and linguistic hybridity, theories of literary criticism and interdisciplinary connections are consolidated’; ‘the course provides specialist knowledge in the linguistic, literary and cultural fields, and high skills in critical commentary and philological and comparative analysis of texts and literary translations’.
CAPABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The course is geared towards imparting the knowledge and methodological tools necessary to understand, analyse at different levels and critically comment on narrative texts from the medieval Romance tradition, with particular regard to the epic genre; students must demonstrate the ability to develop even complex discussions concerning linguistic, philological, narratological, rhetorical and stylistic issues; at the end of the course, students must be able to apply the knowledge they have learnt and the analytical tools to other linguistic and literary traditions, both Romance and non-Romance.
FURTHER LEARNING EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgement:
The student will have to critically interpret the data and issues, both linguistic and philological-literary, inherent to medieval Romance epic production, and reflect on the main themes, formulating autonomous judgements on them.
Communication skills:
The student should be able to present (during the course and in the examination) in a complete but concise manner the results achieved, using correctly the technical language of the philological-literary disciplines.
Learning ability:
The student must be able to update or expand his/her knowledge by drawing autonomously on texts, scientific articles and online sites in the philological-literary sector, and must gradually acquire the ability to follow specialist seminars, conferences, masters courses, etc. in the fields of philology, linguistics and Romance literature.
Course Prerequisites
A knowledge of fundamental notions of Romance linguistics and philology and a basic knowledge of the medieval Romance literary system, as well as knowledge of notions of narratology, metrics, rhetoric and stylistics are essential.
Teaching Methods
DIDACTIC METHODS
There will be 54 hours of assisted frontal teaching and seminar-type teaching. In the course of the lessons, large parts of the French and Spanish epic texts taken into consideration will be read, translated and commented on from a linguistic, philological and literary point of view. The students will be invited to actively participate, in groups and/or individually, in the construction of the expected learning, through the development of connections between knowledge already obtained in previously attended lessons or between topics already dealt with in the same course.
Assessment Methods
LEARNING VERIFICATION METHODS
The examination consists of an oral test on the topics covered in the course; there are no intermediate tests.
Language of the exam: Italian.
Assessment criteria:
Students will be assessed on the basis of their knowledge of the topics covered, with particular reference to their ability to comment critically, with coherence of argumentation and completeness of information, on the narrative, rhetorical and stylistic procedures used in the texts covered by the course, applying autonomously the various methods of analysis indicated during the frontal and seminar hours of the course and making appropriate use of specialist linguistic and philological-literary vocabulary. The evaluation will be expressed in 30ths.
Texts
REFERENCE TEXTS
ATTENDING STUDENTS:
1) A. Limentani, M. Infurna. L’epica romanza nel Medioevo, Bologna, il Mulino.
2) J. Frappier, Les chansons de geste du cycle de Guillaume d’Orange, 2 voll., Paris, SEDES.
3) Cantar de Mio Cid, edición, estudio y notas de A. Montaner, Madrid-Barcelona, Real Academia Española-Círculo de Lectores-Galaxia Gutenberg.
4) Lesson notes.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Non-attending students will have to study instead:
Two volumes to choose from the following:
1) L. Renzi – A. Andreose, Manuale di linguistica e filologia romanza, Bologna, il Mulino.
2) Two volumes to choose from:
a) La letteratura francese medievale, a cura di M. Mancini, Roma, Carocci;
b) C. Alvar – V. Bertolucci – S. Asperti, Le letterature romanze medievali. L’area iberica, Bari-Roma, Laterza;
c) C. Di Girolamo, I trovatori, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri.
Contents
COURSE TITLE: The medieval Romance epic: Guillame d’Orange and the Cid Campeador
TOPICS:
1. The medieval Romance epic: “compositional traits”;
2. The origins: hypothesis;
3. Epic, history and society;
4. The transmission of texts;
5. Cyclization;
6. The form of epic speech: prosodic configuration;
7. The form of epic speech: themes, motives, the formulaic system;
8. The voice of the narrator;
9. Space and time;
10. The heroic model;
11. The Chanson de Roland;
12. Roland’s designation at rearguard;
13. Roland’s death;
14. The cycle of Guillaume d’Orange;
15. Political themes in the Couronnament de Louis;
16. Loyalty and ingratitude: the first part of the Charroi de Nîmes;
17. Serious and comic: the second part of the Charroi de Nîmes;
18. Epic and love: the Prise d’Orange;
19. Cidian matter and the sources of the Cantar de mio Cid;
20. Structure of the Cantar;
21. The enemigos malos and the exile;
22. The social universe in the Cantar;
23. The Cid: from Campeador to Conquistador;
24. Infanzones e ricos hombres: the conflict with the Infantes de Carrión;
25. The afrenta de Corpes;
26. The cortes of Toledo and the final apotheosis of the hero.
Course Language
Italian
More information
None.