Romance literatures

Codificata a partire da una sezione specifica del corpus aristotelico la logica rappresentava nel Medioevo latino quell’"arte delle arti" (ars artium) che studiava le regole del ragionamento corretto e le era riconosciuta una universalità di tipo strumentale. Come notato sin dai primi biografi e commentatori Dante dimostra in svariate occasioni una maestria e una padronanza della materia del tutto degne per dirla col Boccaccio di un «maraviglioso loïco». Giustamente celebri sono i versi di Inferno XXVII in cui «un d’i neri cherubini» con un raffinato ragionamento strappa l’anima di Guido da Montefeltro all’impotente San Francesco («forse / tu non pensavi ch’io loïco fossi!» v. 123); ma è soprattutto nel Convivio nella Monarchia e nella controversa Questio de aqua et terra che l’Alighieri sfoggia una competenza difficilmente riducibile alla consultazione occasionale di qualche ‘manuale’. Questo studio analizza sistematicamente i passaggi dell’opera dantesca riconducibili a questo specifico ambito disciplinare; e offre una panoramica sugli ambienti culturali in cui il Poeta avrebbe verosimilmente potuto formarsi (Firenze Bologna la Toscana occidentale la marca Trevigiana). Da un lato quindi si inserisce nel fortunato filone di studi che si è occupato di valutare la conoscenza che Dante poté avere delle dottrine di Aristotele e dei suoi interpreti. Dall’altro tenta di ricostruire i tempi i luoghi e i modi in cui «peregrino quasi mendicando» poté acquisire tale competenza specialistica. In tal modo non viene solo illuminato un lato inesplorato di questo eccezionale «amatore di sapienza» ma viene anche offerto uno scorcio privilegiato sullo stato delle conoscenze filosofiche in Italia fra XIII e XIV secolo.

Linguistic fragmentation contains the risk of cultural separation while the concept of inclusion implies the recognition of the difference of the Other which must be recognised in its specificity to develop a process of inclusion. One of the main means of overcoming the dangers hidden in linguistic fragmentation is unquestionably plurilingualism and relatedly translation. Translation enables the transmission of content from one linguistic-cultural system to another. Multilingualism is not just a peculiarity of the contemporary age it is a fundamental phenomenon of the Middle Ages. The conceptual relationship between linguistic fragmentation and cultural inclusion and the inter-relationships of these two apparently opposing poles with the communicative tool of translation requires some reflection within the broader framework of translation studies in the Middle Ages. This collection of essays examines the seemingly paradoxical concept of linguistic fragmentation as an instrument of cultural inclusion thanks to the practice of translation.

The essays explain the relationship through translations between many medieval languages and texts from Icelandic to Italian from English to French and more. They examine vernacular circulation of religious texts (translation of the Bible of hagiographic or homiletic texts etc.); circulation thanks to translation of literary texts (e.g. the translation of epic-chivalric cycles); translation from a koine language to another language and vice versa; and the relationship between the choice of the target language and the socio-cultural context.

Drawing on Heidegger's redefinition of the concept of gesture as an action without end this paper aims to reinterpret « Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit » by Annie Ernaux in light of a writing gesture that indefinitely reworks the figure of her mother. In particular the notebook covering the years 1984-86 is re-examined in relation to the book Une femme which represents on the other hand a writing gesture which is planned and structured both regarding the form of the text and the attribution of meaning with respect to the existential trajectory of the author’s mother. Through this comparison the article focuses on the modes of a writing that of « Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit » capable of bringing into the world not because writing is a demiurgic act (Fort 2008) but because writing as an unoriented gesture becomes each time a place for preserving the irreducible otherness of the other.

This article examines the notion of “theoretical gesture” in the field of theories of reading and builds on an apparent paradox: while the term “gesture” is readily used in a metaphorical sense a large proportion of the general systems created to conceptualize reading often exclude the material aspects of this activity and don’t give any weight to the body of the theorist who produces them. By contrast I propose through the analysis of a famous anecdote by Stanley Fish to reconstruct the materiality of the theoretical gesture and to measure its influence on the way reading is conceived on a general scale. In this context the theoretical gesture is defined as the specific movement of thought through which a theory negotiates its conceptual relationship with materiality. For theories of reception represented here by Umberto Eco’s singular attempt at “hands-off reading” this gesture corresponds to a necessarily imperfect operation of “dematerialisation”. On the other hand the “material turn” in humanities has given rise since the 1990s to a proliferation of more conscious theoretical gestures signaling an evolution in the frameworks and postures that questions the very nature of theoretical operations and the ways in which they can be situated.

Within the perspective of an ethology of thought investigation into the way we intellectually produce and create this article considers which intellectual gestures would correspond to “thinking round in circles” (penser en rond). On the one hand this offers an opportunity to examine gesture – why and to what extent we can speak of “intellectual gestures” – and on the other to try out forms to understand how thought proceeds. This text aims to highlight the heuristic value of a figure drawn by thought. Thinking circularly could be the mark of a thought and occasionally of the thought itself; “penser en rond” might entail tracing several circles.

Part speculation part commentary this article draws on examples of gestures by thinkers and writers (Deleuze Barthes literary critics) who talk about gestures while performing them. The article formulates a few propositions on the impetus of thought addressing the spatial nature of thought the part played by the new the old and the repetition in intellectual progression and creation. And the productive or unproductive force of intellectual progression through circles for to think might be thinking in circles – thinking anew with the already as a starting point.

1066 is one of the most well-known dates in English history: but how far do we understand the mental and emotional lives of those who experienced it? In just over a month England was rocked by two separate invasions multiple pitched battles and the deaths of thousands. The repercussions of these traumatic events would echo through the history and literature of northern Europe for centuries to come.

Drawing on studies of trauma and cultural memory this book examines the cultural repercussions of the year 1066 in medieval England Normandy and Scandinavia. It explores how writers in all three regions celebrated their common heritage and mourned the wars that brought them into conflict. Bringing together texts from an array of languages genres and cultural traditions this study examines the strategies medieval authors employed to work through the traumas of 1066 narrating its events and experiences in different forms. It explores the ways in which history and memory interacted through multiple generations of writers and readers and reveals how the field of trauma studies can help us better understand the mental and emotional lives of medieval people.

Traditionally attributed to King Solomon and defined by Rabbi Aqiva as the Holy of Holies among the sacred Scriptures the Song of Songs is one of the most fascinating and controversial biblical books. Celebrated as a key to the supreme mystery of the union between God and the faithful this ambivalent book which combined a sensual celebration of love with a well-established tradition of allegorical interpretation was a text crucial to both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and held a particular appeal for poets. Indeed the Song of Songs played a significant role in the development of European poetry from its very beginning creating an exceptional convergence of sacred and secular languages and horizons of meaning.

Written by a group of distinguished international scholars this volume explores the complex and multifaceted processes through which the Song of Songs entered influenced and interacted with medieval and Renaissance European poetry (twelfth to seventeenth centuries). Focusing on both individual authors – including Peter Riga Dante Alighieri Richard Rolle and George Herbert – and particularly relevant poetic traditions – including Hebrew liturgical poetry and the Tristan and Ysolt tradition Middle English and Petrarchan lyric Renaissance verse versions and seventeenth-century musical compositions dissident and prophetic texts – the volume unveils the relevant role played by the biblical book in the development of European poetry thought and spirituality highlighting its ability to contribute to different poetic genres and give voice to a variety of religious political philosophical and artistic intentions.