Germanic Philology (Manuscript and Textual Studies) (2016/2017)

Learning outcomes

Germanic sources to the Alexander Legend in the Middle Ages. Intertexuality, Literary Genres, Relationships among Different Linguistic Areas

Syllabus

SYLLABUS

FIRST PART (3 weeks = 12 hours): Introduction to Germanic Philology

Historical Linguistics
Indo-European Languages
Germanic Languages
Old Norse
Introduction to Textual Criticism

- Baldi, Philip, 2008. English as an Indo-European Language, in Momma, Haruko, and Michael Matto, eds. A Companion to the History of the English Language, Oxford, Blackwell-Wiley, pp. 127–141

- Driscoll, Matthew J. 2010. ‘The words on the page: Thoughts on philology, old and new’, in Quinn, J. and E. Lethbridge, eds., Creating the Medieval Saga: Versions, Variability, and Editorial Interpretations of Old Norse Saga Literature, Odense, University Press of Southern Denmark, pp. 87-104
https://www.academia.edu/13048340/The_words_on_the_page_Thoughts_on_philology_old_and_new

- E. König - J. van der Auwera (eds.), The Germanic Languages, London-New York: Routledge, 1994, The Germanic Languages, pp. 1-18
(biblioteca Busch: GER LT 355; biblioteca Frinzi: BF 180 C3)


SECOND PART (5 weeks = 20 hours): Introduction to Old Norse

Historical Background: the Colonization and Conversion of Iceland
Old Norse Literacy
Manuscript Traditions
The Text-Critical Treatment of ‘Poetic Edda’
The Editorial History of Snorri’s ‘Edda’
The Relevance of Old Norse Manuscript Traditions to Textual Criticism

- A. Cipolla, ‘Editing and Translating Snorra Edda: Some Observations on the Editorial History of Snorri’s Ars Poetica’, in Studies in the Transmission and Reception of Old Norse Literature: The Hyperborean Muse in European Culture, eds Judy Quinn and Maria Adele Cipolla, Turnhout: Brepols, 2016, Acta Scandinavica

- Greetham, D. (2013) ‘A history of textual scholarship’, in Fraistat, N. and Flanders, J. (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Textual Scholarship: Cambridge University Press,

- Quinn, J., ‘The Principles of Textual Criticism and the Interpretation of Old Norse Texts Derived from Oral Tradition’, in Studies in the Transmission and Reception of Old Norse Literature: The Hyperborean Muse in European Culture, eds Judy Quinn and Maria Adele Cipolla, Turnhout: Brepols, 2016, Acta Scandinavica


THIRD PART (2 weeks and half = 10 hours): The Hamlet Legend

The European Reception of Old Scandinavian Cultures
Saxo Grammaticus
‘Amlóða saga’ (prof. Ian Felce, Cambridge)
The Spread across Europe – Belleforest – Shakespeare - Zeno

- Clunies Ross, Margaret, and Lars Lönnroth, 1999. ‘The Norse Muse. Report from an International Research Project’, alvíssmál 9: 3–28
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~alvismal/9muse.pdf
Fisher, P., Trans., and H. Ellis Davidson Ed., Saxo Grammaticus, History of the Danes, 2 vols., I. Text (pp. 1-9, pp. 65-68, pp. 82-100), II Commentary (pp. 59-66), Brewer, Cambridge, 1979-80

Three lectures on the ‘Amlóða saga’ will be delivered by prof. Ian Felce, Cambridge. A performance of the Ambleto (with an Introduction to Zeno's work by the musicologist M. Rossi Corradini) is scheduled. Students will be requested to attend.

Assessment methods and criteria

Oral exam; midterm test (after the 5th week) on the first part of the course and on related bibliographical entries.
Suggestions for readings and bibliographical materials will be published on the e-learning page.

STUDENT MODULE EVALUATION - 2016/2017