MREMS ONLINE: 'Consoling the Collective' and 'Heavy Weather'

Consoling the Collective: collaboration in MS Laurenziano Redi 9 (JOE STRASZ, UCL)

I will be discussing the role of dialogue and collaborative nature of composition and compilation found in MS Laurenziano Redi 9 (ca. 1290). By focusing on the manuscript’s initial epistolary section and the section of Pisan-composed tenzoni, I will show the importance of exchange in developing the literature of the document into a unique form of the medieval consolation genre, brought on by the prolonged imprisonment of Pisan poets and scribes in Genoa from 1284 to the start of the next century. Lastly, I will discuss how the literary exchanges within the text are echoed in the manuscript as an object, being largely the product of two scribal hands whose editorial choices result in a type of material tenzone.

Heavy Weather: Meteorology in Dante Alighieri's "stony" rhymes (ED ALLNUTT, UCL)

I'll talk about the weather forecast which is the backdrop to a distemperate love affair in Dante's first "stony" poem, "Io son venuto al punto della rota". The description of the origin of a wind in the "sands of Ethiopia" helps us to confirm the horoscope which dates the poem to 1296. These "petrose" poems meanwhile all evince Dante's long-held interest in meteorology, and give us some clues as to his scientific sources.

The event will run via Zoom. Details below.

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https://ucl.zoom.us/j/3645749896?pwd=cjRrQk56RzlqZ3hsd1c2MkZtM1g1Zz09

Meeting ID: 364 574 9896
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