116-074 Italian Medieval and Renaissance Texts

Note

Credit Points

HECS Band

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Completion of all Second Year Italian subjects; 37.5 points at either post-beginners or post-VCE sequence for Third Year; admission to Honours in Italian for Fourth Year.

Semester

Subject Description

The subject will examine two classics of Italian literature, Boccaccio's Decameron and Ariosto's Orlando furioso. The first, composed in the 1350s, is a classic of comic writing which became an essential reference point for later writers. Students will study a selected number of stories to understand their narrative structures and their major themes. Orlando furioso (1532) is an epic poem written in a comic vein. Selected episodes will be studied in detail so that students get an understanding of the basic mechanisms of the poem. By the end of the subject students should have acquired a basic knowledge of Renaissance culture as displayed in Orlando furioso and of techniques relating to the analysis of epic poetry. Students should also have gained an understanding of narratological analysis in relation to the Decameron.