An Introduction to Old Occitan

Author: William D. Paden
Publisher: Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9781603290548
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
An Introduction to Old Occitan is the only textbook in print for learning the language used by the troubadours in southern France during the Middle Ages. Each of the thirty-two chapters discusses a subject in the study of the language (e.g., stressed vowels, subjunctive mood) and includes an exercise based on a reading of an Occitan text that has been edited afresh for this volume. An essential glossary analyzes every occurrence of every word in the readings and gives cognates in other Romance languages as well as the source of each word in Latin or other languages. The book also contains a list of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes and a dictionary of proper names.

The Troubadours

Author: Simon Gaunt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316582620
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Book Description
The dazzling culture of the troubadours - the virtuosity of their songs, the subtlety of their exploration of love, and the glamorous international careers some troubadours enjoyed - fascinated contemporaries and had a lasting influence on European life and literature. Apart from the refined love songs for which the troubadours are renowned, the tradition includes political and satirical poetry, devotional lyrics and bawdy or zany poems. It is also in the troubadour song-books that the only substantial collection of medieval lyrics by women is preserved. This book offers a general introduction to the troubadours. Its sixteen newly-commissioned essays, written by leading scholars from Britain, the US, France, Italy and Spain, trace the historical development and setting of troubadour song, engage with the main trends in troubadour criticism, and examine the reception of troubadour poetry. Appendices offer an invaluable guide to the troubadours, to technical vocabulary, to research tools and to surviving manuscripts.

The Romance of Flamenca

Author: E. D. Blodgett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317775546
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 506

Book Description
Variously described as a comedy of manners, a psychological romance, and a type of fabliau, the 13th-century narrative Flamenca is the best medieval romance written in Occitan. Its uniqueness springs from qualities that anticipate the preoccupations of modern-day narrative. Not content with being a love story fraught with risk and intrigue, the poem is layered with responses to the troubadour tradition of love and poetry, as well as the Bible and the classics. Though among the most bookish of romances, its tone is invariably ironic, comic, and satirical. This playfulness may be measured by the variety and vehemence of critical response to the poem. Is it a vindication of the troubadour ideal, a mockery of the Church, a satire on jealous husbands, or an undermining of the ideals that romance is said to inscribe? Or is it all of these elements held in suspense? The introduction confronts these questions. The most recent edition and translation of Flamenca , by Hubert and Porter, is now out of print; their translation was into octosyllabic couplets that match the original. Blodgett's translation is unrhymed and line-for-line, on pages facing the edition; it adhers as closely as possible to the literal meaning of the original. The edition follows the recent text prepared by Gschwind.

An Introduction to Occitan

Author: David S. Luton
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781499352283
Category : Occitan language
Languages : en
Pages : 60

Book Description
Table of Contents1. Introduction - 52. Pronunciation - 83. The Classroom - 94. Greetings and Farewells - 135. Introductions and Possessive Adjectives - 166. Family - 207. Professions - 228. Countries and Cities - 249. The Body - 2810. Clothes, Colors and Describing People - 2911. Days, Dates and Numbers - 3512. Telling Time - 4013. Activities and Places - 4114. The Home - 4515. Animals and Nature - 4616. Food and Drink - 4817. Basic Grammar - 51It has been my aim in writing this book to present a basic, general Occitan; that is to say, I have endeavored to avoid usage of regional dialects (of which there are at least six). However, novice that I am, there may likely be some regional terms found in this text which may pertain to a certain Occitan dialect, and that was not intentional on my part. Even so, I feel that this book is worth the little money I am charging for it (i.e. at least in the Kindle version; this paperback version is necessarily more expensive for logistical reasons) for those who want a good basic introduction to this language, and do not want to delve into a more advanced study at this juncture. Following you will find some pronunciation pointers which I hope you find helpful! Bon astre! (Good luck!)

A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Troubadours and Old Occitan Literature

Author: Robert A Taylor
Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications
ISBN: 1580442080
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 594

Book Description
Although it seemed in the mid-1970s that the study of the troubadours and of Occitan literature had reached a sort of zenith, it has since become apparent that this moment was merely a plateau from which an intensive renewal was being launched. In this new bibliographic guide to Occitan and troubadour literature, Robert Taylor provides a definitive survey of the field of Occitan literary studies - from the earliest enigmatic texts to the fifteenth-century works of Occitano-Catalan poet Jordi de Sant Jordi - and treats over two thousand recent books and articles with full annotations. Taylor includes articles on related topics such as practical approaches to the language of the troubadours and the musicology of select troubadour songs, as well as articles situated within sociology, religious history, critical methodology, and psychoanalytical analysis. Each listing offers descriptive comments on the scholarly contribution of each source to Occitan literature, with remarks on striking or controversial content, and numerous cross-references that identify complementary studies and differing opinions. Taylor's painstaking attention to detail and broad knowledge of the field ensure that this guide will become the essential source for Occitan literary studies worldwide.

The World of the Troubadours

Author: Linda M. Paterson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521558327
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Book Description
Occitania, known today as the "south of France," had its own language and culture in the Middle Ages. Its troubadours created "courtly love" and a new poetic language in the vernacular, which were to influence European literature for centuries. There are many books on the troubadours, but this is the first comprehensive study of the society in which they lived. For readers of literature it offers a wide-ranging insight into the realities that lay behind the poetic mystique. For historians it opens up an important and neglected area of medieval Europe.

A Troubadour Reader

Author: William D. Paden
Publisher: Modern Language Association of America
ISBN: 9781603296960
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Occitan lyric poetry for language learners A Troubadour Reader, a supplement to William D. Paden's Introduction to Old Occitan, provides a diverse selection of thirty medieval lyric poems in Occitan for language learners. Featuring poems by women, poems composed especially early or especially late in the language's literary use, and poems that feature Occitan in contact with other languages, the book highlights the range and wealth of medieval Occitan lyric poetry. Each poem is presented with a brief introduction, glosses on the text, and notes after each stanza. The volume also includes a section on basic Occitan grammar, a list of manuscripts, bibliographical references, and an index.

A Handbook of the Troubadours

Author: F. R. P. Akehurst
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520913000
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 515

Book Description
This book is a reference volume and a digest of more than a century of scholarly work on troubadour poetry. Written by leading scholars, it summarizes the current consensus on the various facets of troubadour studies. Standing at the beginning of the history of modern European verse, the troubadours were the prime poets and composers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the South of France. No study of medieval literature is complete without an examination of the courtly love which is celebrated in the elaborately rhymed stanzas of troubadour verse, creations whose words and melodies were imitated by poets and musicians all over medieval Europe. The words of about 2,500 troubadour songs have survived, along with 250 melodies, and all have come under intense scholarly scrutiny. This Handbook brings together the fruits of this scrutiny, giving teachers and students an overview of the fundamental issues in troubadour scholarship. All quotations are given in the original Old Occitan and in English. The editors provide a list of troubadour editions and an index, and each chapter includes a list of additional readings. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996. This book is a reference volume and a digest of more than a century of scholarly work on troubadour poetry. Written by leading scholars, it summarizes the current consensus on the various facets of troubadour studies. Standing at the beginning

An Introduction to Old Provençal Versification

Author: Frank M. Chambers
Publisher: American Philosophical Society
ISBN: 9780871691675
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Book Description
The major portion of this study is devoted to the lyric poems of the 12th & 13th century which constitute Southern France's greatest contribution to world literature. Nevertheless, chronology requires that this study begins by glancing briefly at two narrative pieces, the oldest Provencal poems of which we have any knowledge. Contents: The Earliest Provencal Verse: "Boeci," & the "Chanson de Sainte Foy"; Guilhem VII, Comte de Peitieu (or Peiteus); Marcabru; Marcabru's Contemporaries; "Trobar clus"; "Trobar leu"; The Generation of '80; Thematic Genres in the 13th Century; Genres Based on Form; Non-lyric Genres; & Bibliography.

Stolen Song

Author: Eliza Zingesser
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501747630
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Book Description
Stolen Song documents the act of cultural appropriation that created a founding moment for French literary history: the rescripting and domestication of troubadour song, a prestige corpus in the European sphere, as French. This book also documents the simultaneous creation of an alternative point of origin for French literary history—a body of faux-archaic Occitanizing songs. Most scholars would find the claim that troubadour poetry is the origin of French literature uncomplicated and uncontroversial. However, Stolen Song shows that the "Frenchness" of this tradition was invented, constructed, and confected by francophone medieval poets and compilers keen to devise their own literary history. Stolen Song makes a major contribution to medieval studies both by exposing this act of cultural appropriation as the origin of the French canon and by elaborating a new approach to questions of political and cultural identity. Eliza Zingesser shows that these questions, usually addressed on the level of narrative and theme, can also be fruitfully approached through formal, linguistic, and manuscript-oriented tools.