Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Sp. 14 Paper for Part II: Spanish Literature, Life and History before 1492
Set Text 3: Libro de Alexandre
N.B. All class marks are for the university library. (Essential Reading is asterisked.)
You may wish to consult
Raymond S. Willis, El Libro de Alexandre: Texts of the Paris and the Madrid Manuscripts, Elliott Monographs in the Romance Languages & Literatures, 32 (Princeton: UP, 1939): see page catalogue.
Much of the Libro de Alexandre is a translation of Walter of Châtillon's Alexandreis (Marvin L. Colker, ed. Galteri de Castellione: Alexandreis, Thesaurus Mundi, 17 [Padua: Antenore, 1978; 716:01.c.3.17]; trans. David Townsend, The 'Alexandreis' of Walter of Châtillon: A Twelfth-Century Epic, The Middle Aes Series [Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1996]; 716:1.c.95.155).
On mirabilia (the marvelous)
Biow, Douglas, 1996. Mirabile dictu: Representations of the Marvelous in Medieval and Renaissance Epic (Ann Abrbor, MI: Univ. of Michigan Press); 701:15.c.95.2729.
Dubost, Francis, 1991. Aspects fantastiques de la littérature narrative (XIIeet XIIIesiècles): L'autre, l'ailleurs, l'autrefois (Paris: H Champion); 735:43.c.95.491f.
*Le Goff, Jacques, 1988. The Medieval Imagination (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press); 532:24.c.95.128.
Issues to consider
- How is the narrative organised? What is the role of digression? Why is there so much attention to mirabilia?
- How is Alexandre portrayed? The epitome of the wise and brave king (replete with fortitudo et sapienta), or lacking in mesura?
- How does it compare to other epics you may have read (Poema de mio Cid; Poema de Fernán González)? To other cuaderna vía narratives (Poema de Fernán González; Berceo's poems)?
