This course explores the intersection of intellectual culture and poetic traditions in thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century Europe, with a specific focus on Italy. This period marks a pivotal moment in the development of Western culture, within which the rapid flourishing of Italian literature unfolded, culminating in the works of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321).
Through six seminars, we will investigate the institutional and intellectual landscape of the time, exploring how both university learning and extra-academic lay intellectual culture shaped Italian literary production. The Aristotelian ideal of a philosophical life as the full actualization of human reason profoundly influenced poets such as Dante and Guido Cavalcanti, while Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy permeated late-medieval intellectual culture at all levels.
A key focus will also be the knotty entanglement between academic discourse and poetic expression, examining how the language and forms of scholarly debate—such as the questio and logical argumentation—influenced literary production. Attention will be paid to the interplay between Latin and the vernacular, as well as the role of vernacularisation in the development of extra-academic intellectual traditions.
By contextualizing these themes within their social and literary frameworks, the course provides an in-depth understanding of the intricate relationship between intellectual life, language, and poetry in Dante’s world. Through texts like the Convivio, we will analyse Dante’s project of mediating philosophical knowledge in the vernacular for a wider audience, whilst in his Paradiso we will assess how he frames his journey through the otherworld as a learning process reconfiguring academic discourse.
This module will be of interest to students working on late Medieval culture in any language. A reading knowledge of Italian or Latin is desirable, but all texts will be available in English translation. Students with no prior knowledge of Italian or studies in Italian culture are encouraged to contact the module convenor before registering for the module.
