Università Roma Tre

Re-worked versions, re-writings and translation strategies in medieval English and German texts

The course aims to present the different ways and purposes in which various authors of the English and German Middle Ages translated, reworked and rewrote literary, philosophical or theological texts from Latin into vernacular. The works in verse and prose (e.g. Old English biblical and hagiographic poems, Old English translations of Alfred's works, Old Saxon Heliand, Old High German Otfrid von Weißenburg’s Liber Evangelorium, Tatian and Notker III's translations) and the related paratexts (prefaces, epilogues, dedicatory letters) will be analyzed from a literary, philological and linguistic perspective, with particular attention to codicological transmission and text typology, as well as to the historical and cultural context in which they were produced. The analysis of the texts will enable students to gain insight into some features of the linguistic evolution of English and German.

The students, who will be guided by the teacher in the choice of themes and in the use of the main bibliographic tools, will have to present an individual or group report, which will be discussed in class in the final part of the course, and which will focus on historical-literary, linguistic and textual topics related to works of the Germanic Middle Ages.

A selection of chapters from the following texts:

M. Battaglia (ed.), Le civiltà letterarie del Medioevo germanico, Carocci, Roma 2017 (pp. 55-136; 137-276; 277-309).
B. Murdoch - M. Read (eds.), Early Germanic Literature and Culture, Camden House, Rochester-New York 2004 (pp. 205-233; 235-261; 263-284).
R.D. Fulk – C. Cain, A History of Old English Literature, Wynley Blackwell, Oxford 2013.
Rolf Bergmann (Hg.), Althochdeutsche und altsächsische Literatur, De Gruyter, Berlin–Boston, 2013.

A. M. Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel medioevo germanico, Roma-Bari: Laterza 2004 (Parte II e III)