Ateneo - UPO

The locked-up princess: Flamenca and the medieval romance

The lecturer will provide texts, and directions on which titles to study.

Editions:
- Flamenca. Texte édité par François Zufferey et traduit par Valérie Fasseur, Paris, Librairie générale française, 2014;
- Flamenca, romanzo occitano del XIII secolo [a cura di] Roberta Manetti, Modena, Mucchi, 2008;
- Flamenca, a cura di M. Mancini, Roma, Carocci, 2006.

Language:
- Aurelio Roncaglia, La lingua dei trovatori. Profilo di grammatica storica del provenzale antico, Pisa-Roma, F. Serra, 2019;
- J. Anglade, Grammaire de l'Ancien Provençal, ou ancienne langue d'oc, Paris, Klincksieck, 1977.

Further study:
- Alberto Limentani, L'Eccezione narrativa: la Provenza medievale e l'arte del racconto, Torino, Einaudi, 1977;
- M.L. Meneghetti, Il romanzo, Bologna, il Mulino, 1988 (Strumenti di filologia romanza);
- M.L. Meneghetti, Il romanzo nel Medioevo: Francia, Spagna, Italia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2019;
- P.A. Martina, Il romanzo francese in versi e la sua produzione manoscritta, Strasbourg, ELiPhi, 2020.

Literary history:
- L. Lazzerini, Letteratura medievale in lingua d’oc, Modena, Mucci, 2001 (II ed. 2020);
- A. Vitale-Brovarone, La civiltà letteraria francese nei secoli medievali, in L. Sozzi (dir.), Storia della civiltà letteraria francese, Torino 1993, vol. I, pp. 1-200.

Knowledge:
- knowledge of the main phonetic and morphological features of Old Provençal;
- basic knowledge of the main moments and articulations of medieval literary history, particularly in the Gallo-romance area;
- basic knowledge of the development of the genre of the verse romance;
- basic knowledge of the texts examined in class.
Skills:
- ability to read of a medieval text in a romance language;
- ability to identify the specific, metrical, linguistic, stylistic, and content features of a medieval text in a romance language.
Cross-curricular skills:
- setting up a personal discourse from topics covered in class and studied independently;
- refinement of expository skills from topics covered in class and studied independently.

Basic knowledge provided by high school and early undergraduate studies.
Students are required to have already taken a course in Romance Philology (even without having already taken the exam).

Lectures, seminar discussion, individual study.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/servicesstudentsphysical- or-learning-disabilities. Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, must refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the modalities of examination at least 15 days before; some of these must be approved by docent.

The final exam involves an oral examination lasting 30-40 minutes, in which the knowledge included in the objectives and learning outcomes will be tested. The exam is divided into three sections:
1. verification of literary history knowledge acquired through individual study of a textbook;
2. verification, through the reading and translation of a passage covered in class, of basic linguistic and metrical knowledge acquired during the course;
3. from the commentary on a passage covered in lecture and the study of an essay, verification of the student's knowledge and skills in dealing with broader literary discourse.
The three points will each weigh one-third on the final grade. Honors will be awarded on the basis of sharpness, depth and elaboration of responses.

During our course we will tackle the reading of a particular text, a verse romance written in old Occitan. Flamenca, the protagonist, is the victim of the comical jealousy of her husband, who locks her in a tower, preventing her from any contact other than with her friends. Despite this, she falls in love with a handsome knight and is able to talk to him.

The course consists of 15 lessons of 2 hours each. The following topics will be covered:
- The Old-French verse romance: characters of the genre;
- Metre, form and content of the novel in verse;
- The 12th-century verse romance: antiquity texts and Chrétien de Troyes;
- The 12th-century verse romance: Tristan;
- The troubadours and the romances;
- Novels in Occitan;
- Flamenca (dating and plot issues);
- Introduction to old Occitan (phonetics and morphology);
- Anthological reading, with commentary, of the novel Flamenca.

Non-attending students will agree on a syllabus with the lecturer.

Students are expected to:
- (at a basic level) expose the knowledge and skills acquired during the course and demonstrate mastering vocabulary and methods of Romance philology;
- (at an advanced level) deal independently with a medieval text, using methods and bibliographical tools of Romance philology.