Variations on the myth I. The mythological code between Humanism and the Renaissance (Ordinario)

Variations on the myth I. The mythological code between Humanism and the Renaissance

What relationships link the myth to individual literary genres or specific forms of expression? How do the judgments on the myth formulated in the socio-cultural contexts and literary traditions of the early modern age vary? In this historical context, what functions are performed from time to time by the various expressive forms in which a myth is actualized? These and other questions will be answered through a series of readings of literary texts and critical-theoretical essays that intend to present the myth as a research field in which to delve into some themes of cultural history, whose relevance goes beyond the boundaries of philological-literary disciplines or the elective fields of comparative studies and the fortune of the Ancient to also involve other forms of knowledge (historical, philosophical, artistic, psychological, etc.). The seminar will focus in particular on the Italian literary production of the early modern age, although at times it will be necessary to extend the analysis to other eras, other artistic disciplines and other literary and cultural traditions, to investigate from time to time the context of meaning of the myth as a literary-artistic subject, symbolic form and structure of the collective imagination. The analysis will focus both on the partial and allusive revivals of myths, those of the short forms of lyric poetry where mythologems linked to love poetry (and philosophy) and fables devoted to the courtly praise or self-representation of the poet triumph; and on the total revivals of myths, those of the long forms of poems, where new narratives are proposed, albeit based on characters and stories of classical mythography (especially Ovidian), and where the total revival involves the complete narrative dubbing of the classical text, and therefore also the amplification of its story or the correction of its message.