Description
This course will study the pivotal role of Florence in the development of Italian vernacular literature during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Readings, discussions, and written essays will be made upon the major genres of this period (lyric poetry, the novella, autobiography, theatrical comedy, chronicles, biographies, saints’ lives, and epistles). The major authors and lyric poets including those of the Sicilian school will be covered. The pre- and post-Boccaccian novellistica will also be addressed, as well as other biographical and historical texts to deepen students’ understanding of how literature was produced and received in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. These readings will also provide a springboard for discussing historical and social concerns.
