The Course “Germanic Philology 2 LM” falls within the domain of the Complementary learning activities of the Degree Course in Modern Languages for International Communication, specifically the activities aiming at providing adequate tools for the analysis of texts in the light of their transmission and cultural context.
The course envisages further study of the medieval languages from a diachronic perspective; further study of the theory of textual criticism, with special reference to the transmission, edition and interpretation of texts, as well as to the historical context in which they were produced and transmitted.
Expected Learning Outcomes: The student will acquire detailed and in-depth competence in the history of medieval languages and literatures, as well as in the wider domain of textual and literary criticism.
The course envisages further study of the medieval languages from a diachronic perspective; further study of the theory of textual criticism, with special reference to the transmission, edition and interpretation of texts, as well as to the historical context in which they were produced and transmitted.
Expected Learning Outcomes: The student will acquire detailed and in-depth competence in the history of medieval languages and literatures, as well as in the wider domain of textual and literary criticism.
teacher profile teaching materials
The course will analyze from an interdisciplinary perspective the different ways in which various authors of the English and German Middle Ages dealt with the complex theme of temptation and its consequences. Works (including the poetic rewriting of Genesis from the Anglo-Saxon period, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Langland's Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Otfrid von Weissenburg's Liber Evangeliorum, Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan) will be examined from a literary, philological and linguistic perspective, with particular attention to such problems as the identification of sources and recurring motifs, inter-textual relations, the relationship between word and image, and the allegorical and metaphorical aspects of the Garden of Eden. The analysis of the texts will enable students to gain insight into some features of the linguistic evolution of English and German, and to face topics of textual criticism. Students will carry out individual and group research that will be presented and discussed during seminars..
A selection of chapters from the following texts:
- B. Smalley, Lo studio della Bibbia nel Medioevo, Bologna: Il Mulino 1972.
- N. Frye, Il grande codice. La Bibbia e le letterature, Torino: Einaudi 1986
- A. M. Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel medioevo germanico, Roma-Bari: Laterza 2004 (Parte II).
- D. Wallace, The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002 .
- D. Kartschoke, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im hohen Mittelalter, München: DTV 1990.
- D. Crystal, The Stories of English, Woodstock: Overlook Press, 2004.
- P. von Polenz, Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, Berlin: De Gruyter 2009.
Additional bibliographical material (critical editions, glossaries, critical essays etc.) will be provided by the teacher at the beginning of the course.
Programme
After Eating the Forbidden Fruit: How the poets of the Germanic Middle Ages interpret the Fall of Man.The course will analyze from an interdisciplinary perspective the different ways in which various authors of the English and German Middle Ages dealt with the complex theme of temptation and its consequences. Works (including the poetic rewriting of Genesis from the Anglo-Saxon period, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Langland's Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Otfrid von Weissenburg's Liber Evangeliorum, Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan) will be examined from a literary, philological and linguistic perspective, with particular attention to such problems as the identification of sources and recurring motifs, inter-textual relations, the relationship between word and image, and the allegorical and metaphorical aspects of the Garden of Eden. The analysis of the texts will enable students to gain insight into some features of the linguistic evolution of English and German, and to face topics of textual criticism. Students will carry out individual and group research that will be presented and discussed during seminars..
Core Documentation
Texts.A selection of chapters from the following texts:
- B. Smalley, Lo studio della Bibbia nel Medioevo, Bologna: Il Mulino 1972.
- N. Frye, Il grande codice. La Bibbia e le letterature, Torino: Einaudi 1986
- A. M. Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel medioevo germanico, Roma-Bari: Laterza 2004 (Parte II).
- D. Wallace, The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2002 .
- D. Kartschoke, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im hohen Mittelalter, München: DTV 1990.
- D. Crystal, The Stories of English, Woodstock: Overlook Press, 2004.
- P. von Polenz, Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, Berlin: De Gruyter 2009.
Additional bibliographical material (critical editions, glossaries, critical essays etc.) will be provided by the teacher at the beginning of the course.
Reference Bibliography
Murray's Old English Poetry Project: https://people.ucalgary.ca/~mmcgilli/ASPR/ The Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse: https://www.manuscriptsonline.org/resources/pv/ The Labyrinth. Resources for Medieval StudiesType of delivery of the course
Lectures, seminars, tutorials for students' presentations of individual research works.Type of evaluation
The oral examination aims to test: (a) the knowledge of the content of the texts given in the syllabus and of the problems discussed during the semester; (b) the ability to critically rework the acquired knowledge and place the texts in their historical, cultural and linguistic context; (c) the expressive skills and the acquisition of the use of a specialized vocabulary; (d) the thorough knowledge of the discipline's own methods of investigation; (e) the results of individual investigations. Marks: from 18 to 30 cum laude.