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Neolatin Literature I and II
Outline
The course will focus on late 17th- and 18th-century Latin poetry, aiming to provide a partial overview of this vast production, structured across different genres and metrical forms, as well as diverse cultural environments. Since these texts lack modern editions and have never been translated into Italian or other languages, active participation will be required. Students will be expected to work on ancient editions and manuscripts, and will be asked to collaborate on the drafting of commentaries on the texts. The two courses are designed as a single program, but, given their anthological structure, students may also choose to follow just one of them, then preparing the texts discussed in each module for the exam.
Non-attending students will prepare some Latin satires of an Arcadian nature written by Leone Strozzi (the search for a treasure in one's own little field; 1690s), Contuccio Contucci (on contemporary poetry and the inflation of poets), Giulio Cesare Cordara (against the cabalists, or lottery players; 1733) and Giovan Battista Casti (on the disadvantages of small towns; against those who spend the day chattering about war; on his poetry; a Roman festival; 1763-1764).
Readings and Bibliography
Attending Students
The readings and bibliography covered in the lectures will be uploaded as handouts to the instructor's webpage on the Sapienza University website at the beginning and throughout the course.
Non-attending Students
M. Campanelli, «Eja age dic satyram». La musa pedestre nel Bosco Parrasio, Rome, Accademia dell’Arcadia, 2021, pp. 3-27, 31-51, 229-435; the volume is available in open access on the Accademia dell’Arcadia website.
Exam
The exam will be held in written form; in two hours the student will have to translate a few passages (selected by the teacher) from the texts read in the classes, for attending students, or from the satires in the volume “Eja age dic satyram”, for non-attending students, and prove himself able to comment on the vocabulary, the syntax, the metric, the historical and literary issues of the texts.
Philology of Italian Literature II
Outline
The course will focus on the poetry of Roman academies between the late seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on the works of the Infecondi, the Academy of Christina of Sweden, and the Arcadia. With a focus on philological aspects, the classes will examine texts illustrating the various phases of academic poetry, from composition to recitation, from archival preservation to printing. These texts will include both those published by individual academy groups in collective collections and those independently edited by individual authors. The texts examined will be almost entirely in Latin. Students who do not want to deal with Latin texts will study a different reading list, which includes two most important examples of critical edition of Italian texts: a medieval chronicle with a very large, and late, manuscript tradition and neither the author’s original nor the archetype (Anonimo Romano), and an 18th-century collection of lyrics on which the author worked for most of his life, as shown by many mss. in his hand and printed edition revised and corrected by him before and after printing (Parini). It is assumed a good knowledge of the historical and literary features of the texts. The critical editions of both will be available on the e-learning page of the Sapienza website. Da Ponte’s libretto of Così fan tutte is the best introduction to this genre of poetry, usually unknown to nowadays students; for the exam they will be asked to paraphrase a short passage of the text.
Readings
Program for the students who attend the course:
Anonimo Romano, Cronica, a cura di G. Porta, Milano 1979, pp. I-XVI, 1-340, 443-531 (with M. Campanelli, “Benché io l’aia ià fatta per lettera”: gli inserti latini nella Cronica di Anonimo Romano, «Filologia e Critica», 37, 2012, pp. 3-29, downloadable from Academia.edu). Students cannot prepare the exam using the Adelphi editio minor (1981), which does not have the critical apparatus; on the other hand this edition may be useful for paraphrasing, since it contains a final glossary.
The Arcadian Republic: anthology of Latin and Italian texts, in prose and verse, by G. M. Crescimbeni, G. V. Gravina, V. Leonio, M. G. Morei, A. Guidi and others.
The texts covered by the course will be uploaded on the teacher's web page on the Faculty website a few days before each lesson or will be distributed during the lessons. The text of the Anonimo Romano is available on the e-learning platform.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, Così fan tutte. Suggested edition: L. Da Ponte, Libretti viennesi. La prima edizione completa con dieci inediti, a cura di L. Della Chà, Parma, Fondazione Pietro Bembo / Guanda, 1999; but any edition will do.
Program for the students who do not attend the course:
Anonimo Romano, Cronica, a cura di G. Porta, Milano 1979, pp. I-XVI, 1-340, 443-531 (with M. Campanelli, “Benché io l’aia ià fatta per lettera”: gli inserti latini nella Cronica di Anonimo Romano, «Filologia e Critica», 37, 2012, pp. 3-29, available on M. Campanelli's page in Academia.edu). Students cannot prepare the exam using the Adelphi editio minor (1981), which does not have the critical apparatus; on the other hand this edition may be useful for paraphrasing, since it contains a final glossary.
G. Parini, Le Odi, edizione critica a cura di Dante Isella, Ricciardi, Milano - Napoli, 1975. For paraphrasing and commenting on the text of the Odes, students could rely on the edition by Nadia Ebani (Fondazione Pietro Bembo / Ugo Guanda Editore 2010), also available at the Monteverdi Library.
The texts of the Anonimo Romano and Parini are available on the Sapienza e-learning platform.
Lorenzo Da Ponte, Così fan tutte. Suggested edition: L. Da Ponte, Libretti viennesi. La prima edizione completa con dieci inediti, a cura di L. Della Chà, Parma, Fondazione Pietro Bembo / Guanda, 1999; but any edition will do.
Exam
The test will consist of a written exam in a classroom; the student will have to paraphrase in modern Italian, contextualize and comment on the philological features of the text, with reference to the notes of the critical apparatus, a passage from the Cronica of the Anonimo Romano and some stanzas of a Parini’s ode, and a passage from Da Ponte’s libretto. The time available will be 125550 minutes. Attending students will also do the exam in written form, paraphrasing in modern italian, contextualizing, and commenting on the philological aspects of a passage from the Anonimo’s Cronica, and paraphrasing a passage from Da Ponte’s libretto; they will also be required to translate, to put the ictus on the verses and to comment two passages of the Latin texts read in class.
Receiving hours
Venerdì dalle 15 alle 16 nello studio 4 del Dipartimento di lettere e culture moderne o su appuntamento da prendere tramite e-mail.
Lessons
| Lesson code | Lesson | Year | Semester | Language | Course | Course code | Curriculum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1023919 | ELEMENTI DI FILOLOGIA DELLA LETTERATURA ITALIANA | 3rd | 2nd | ITA | Classics | 33530 | Curriculum unico |
| 1025250 | LETTERATURA NEOLATINA | 1st | 2nd | ITA | Philology, literatures and history of the ancient world | 33545 | Storico e medievistico |
| 1023919 | ELEMENTI DI FILOLOGIA DELLA LETTERATURA ITALIANA | 3rd | 1st | ITA | Classics | 33530 | Curriculum unico |
| 10592985 | FILOLOGIA DELLA LETTERATURA ITALIANA II | 3rd | N/D | ITA | Modern humanities | 33531 | Curriculum unico |
| 10596175 | FONDAMENTI DI RETORICA E ANALISI DEL TESTO | 3rd | N/D | ITA | Modern humanities | 33531 | Curriculum unico |
| 1025250 | LETTERATURA NEOLATINA | 1st | 2nd | ITA | Philology, literatures and history of the ancient world | 33545 | Filologico e letterario |
| 1025250 | LETTERATURA NEOLATINA | 1st | 2nd | ITA | Modern Philology | 33544 | Filologia moderna (percorso formativo valido anche per il conseguimento del doppio titolo italo-francese o italo-svizzero) |