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Arrigo da Settimello

Elegia

Edizione critica, traduzione e commento di Clara Fossati

HB pp. LXXXIII-101, € 50,00

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year
2011
ISBN
978-88-8450-430-2
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available
 
 

website of «Edizione Nazionale dei Testi Mediolatini d’Italia»

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We have no reliable information on the events which marked the life of Arrigo da Settimello (Henry of Settimello) and, in the absence of precise documentation, the only elements which allow us to reconstruct his biography come from some references in the text. The Elegia, which dates from 1193, in all probability, and shows the profound influence of Ovid and Boethius, is organized in four books, further divisible into two sections, different in style and theme: books I and II restless and personal; books III and IV sedate in style and marked by the reassuring presence of Philosophy. And yet each book, with its specific content and use of lexical and linguistic strategies, presents individual peculiarities traceable to different literary genres: planctus, invective, philosophical dialogue, moral treatise. Arrigo da Settimello effortlessly blends the classical tradition with contemporary culture and interlaces mythical and biblical stories and characters with real protagonists of political history to speak of his own sufferings (real or imagined) to the greatest expressive effect. Over and above the references to the ancient auctoritates, we note a perfect adherence to the rhetorical, literary, and intellectual principles of the 12th century, while the elaborate style of versification and rhetoric in the work reflect the teachings of the artes poeticae and dictandi treatises which flourished in the second half of the century. The Elegia enjoyed exceptional popularity - at least until the end of the 15th century - both in terms of manuscript circulation and as a literary model, and entered the canon of auctores minores to become a 'textbook' and object of two 14th century vernacular translations.
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