Dante’s troubadours 2 / Research Seminar (PhD)

<p>Seminar presentation.</p>

<p>The topic of the seminar will be agreed upon with the lecturer, who will propose a number of topics related to the subject matter covered during the course. The skills and interests of students will be taken into account, and students may also propose topics as long as they are compatible with the course. The seminar may also be prepared in small groups in order to promote the seminarial dimension of the course and the exchange of ideas.&nbsp;</p><p>The approximate duration of the oral presentation is 45 minutes, followed by discussion. The material to be discussed (handouts, slides, texts, bibliography, any written drafts) must be sent to the lecturer (by email) at least one week before the seminar; the documents will be made available to the whole class on the dedicated Teams page at least 1-2 days before the seminar.</p>

For Module 2, the only essential prerequisite is a passion for poetry. Knowledge of Latin and one or more Romance languages facilitates participation. 

Module 3 (PhD) requires basic knowledge of historical linguistics and textual criticism.

The course will offer readings of several poems in the langue d’oc that are present in various ways in the background of Dante's work, from his lyrical poetry to the Commedia. In addition to the interpretative and philological questions raised by the specific texts, the course will address more generally the issue of intertextual relationships that led to the definition of a new poetic style in Tuscany at the end of the 13th century.

The third module, reserved for PhD students, will be a research seminar in which a current issue for discussion will be presented (the verse by Bonvesin da la Riva) and participants will be able to discuss their work in progress.

For further information on Dante's relationship with the poetry of the troubadours, see the essays by P. Beltrami, Arnaut Daniel and Dante's “bella scuola” of troubadours, and by S. Asperti, Dante, the troubadours, poetry, both in Le culture di Dante: Studi in onore di Robert Hollander, Florence, Cesati, 2004, on pp. 29-59 and 61-92, respectively.

For Module 3, we will discuss the essay by R. Wilhelm, Il verso volgare di Bonvesin da la Riva. Questioni di metrica fra linguistica storica e edizione dei testi, in “Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie”, 141 (2025), pp. 843-89.

Further specific bibliography will be provided and discussed during the course.