Università Roma Tre

The composition and transmission of texts in the Germanic Middle Ages.

The course will focus on the analysis of works from the English and German Middle Ages with particular attention to the representation of the hero in the earliest tradition (Beowulf, Battle of Maldon, Canto of Ildebrando) and in the later Arthurian romance (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach).

The texts, which will be related to the literary and cultural-historical environment they were produced in, will offer the starting point for a deepening of knowledge about:
- the techniques used by different authors for the composition and elaboration of themes and motifs derived from different literary traditions;
- textual transmission (texts, paratexts, handwriting, miniatures);
- diachronic linguistics.

Students (who will be guided by the teacher in the choice of topics and bibliographic material) will be required to deliver an individual or group presentation on historical-literary, linguistic and textual topics related to works of the Germanic Middle Ages.

- Beowulf, ed. Giuseppe Brunetti, Roma: Carocci 2003
(Beowulf: http://www.maldura.unipd.it/dllags/brunetti/OE/TESTI/Beowulf/index.htm)
- Krapp, George Philip and Dobbie, Elliott Van Kirkhe, Anglo-Saxon poetic records: a collective edition, 6 voll., New York: Columbia University Press1931-1953.
- The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/)
- Hildebrandslied, ed. Nicoletta Francovich Onesti, Parma: Pratiche, 1995.
- M. Andrew and R. Waldron, edd., The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript. Pearl, Cleanness, Patience, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Exeter: Exeter University Press 2007
- (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;idno=Gawain
- Wolfram von Eschenbach, Werke, hrsg. von Karl Lachmann, Berlin 5. Aufl. 1891
(Parzival: http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/germanica/Chronologie/13Jh/Wolfram/wol_pa00.html)

David Crystal,The Stories of English, Woodstock: Overlook Press, 2004
Andy Orchard, Pride and Prodigies: Studies in the Monsters of the Beowulf-Manuscript, Cambridge: D S Brewer, 1985