Fabian Alfie | University of Arizona (original) (raw)
I am a Professor of Italian at the University of Arizona. My research agenda has focused on the comic poetry of the Middle Ages ("poesia giocosa"). My first book was on Cecco Angiolieri, and my most recent book is a monograph on Dante's tenzone with Forese Donati. I have published about thirty articles and book chapters on Cecco, Dante, Boccaccio, Rustico Filippi, Pietro de' Faitinelli, Lapo Gianni, Petrarch and Guido Cavalcanti.
Since 2010 I have also been the Head of the Department of French and Italian at the University of Arizona.
Phone: (520) 621-7349
Address: Department of French and Italian
549 Modern Languages
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721-0067
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Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)
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Papers by Fabian Alfie
Gli antichi savi dicevano che si poteva scorgere tutto l'universo in un granello di sabbia, e dic... more Gli antichi savi dicevano che si poteva scorgere tutto l'universo in un granello di sabbia, e dicendo ciò intendevano che anche la minima parte del cosmo porta le tracce di una storia più ampia, e di rapporti con altri elementi dispersi ed anche lontani. Si potrebbe applicare una simile idea agli studi letterari: nei testi cosiddetti minori si possono vedere molti filoni culturali, e i poeti anche inconsapevoli assorbono varie idee importanti della loro epoca. Non bisogna avere il genio di un Dante per rispecchiare molti aspetti essenziali della propria cultura ed introdurli nei componimenti poetici. In altre parole, i testi minimi, anonimi, sperduti e dimenticati sono veramente delle miniere, per così dire, di idee, concetti, e lingua del tempo a cui risalivano, e scavando anche poco, chi è paziente può rivelare dell'oro. Il soggetto di questa analisi è una di quelle poesie poco studiate, anonime, e senza grand'influsso culturale, ma ciò non vuol dire che essa manchi del tutto di interesse. Anzi, è un testo interessantissimo dal punto di vista della mentalità del Duecento.
forthcoming in Heliotropia 11.1-2 (2014): 65-79.
Mediaevistik, 2013
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, satirists typically drew associations between human being... more During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, satirists typically drew associations between human beings and beasts as a way to debase their subjects. This was particularly true of misogynous satires, which tapped into a pre-existing theological tradition comparing women to animals. The theological tradition about women, which stretched back to the Church Fathers, was itself based in the tradition of literary satire of the classical world, and had the overt intention to dissuade men from loving. 2 At the same time, it also contained ontological teachings about the nature of women. Women, theologians wrote, were closer to the body than men; Adam was created in God's image rendering men more spiritual, while Eve was created from Adam's rib rendering them more bodily. 3 Thus, to many thinkers at the time, women were naturally more beastly than men. 4 Women's sexuality only accentuated their association to animals. Being more corporeal, women were considered to be more sexual than men, indeed they were slandered as sexually insatiable. 5
The Book of Nature and Humanity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 2013
The power's all within her / As she takes off her clothes.
Italian Culture, Sep 2012
Accessus ad Auctores: Studies in Honor of Christopher Kleinhenz, 2011
Gli antichi savi dicevano che si poteva scorgere tutto l'universo in un granello di sabbia, e dic... more Gli antichi savi dicevano che si poteva scorgere tutto l'universo in un granello di sabbia, e dicendo ciò intendevano che anche la minima parte del cosmo porta le tracce di una storia più ampia, e di rapporti con altri elementi dispersi ed anche lontani. Si potrebbe applicare una simile idea agli studi letterari: nei testi cosiddetti minori si possono vedere molti filoni culturali, e i poeti anche inconsapevoli assorbono varie idee importanti della loro epoca. Non bisogna avere il genio di un Dante per rispecchiare molti aspetti essenziali della propria cultura ed introdurli nei componimenti poetici. In altre parole, i testi minimi, anonimi, sperduti e dimenticati sono veramente delle miniere, per così dire, di idee, concetti, e lingua del tempo a cui risalivano, e scavando anche poco, chi è paziente può rivelare dell'oro. Il soggetto di questa analisi è una di quelle poesie poco studiate, anonime, e senza grand'influsso culturale, ma ciò non vuol dire che essa manchi del tutto di interesse. Anzi, è un testo interessantissimo dal punto di vista della mentalità del Duecento.
forthcoming in Heliotropia 11.1-2 (2014): 65-79.
Mediaevistik, 2013
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, satirists typically drew associations between human being... more During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, satirists typically drew associations between human beings and beasts as a way to debase their subjects. This was particularly true of misogynous satires, which tapped into a pre-existing theological tradition comparing women to animals. The theological tradition about women, which stretched back to the Church Fathers, was itself based in the tradition of literary satire of the classical world, and had the overt intention to dissuade men from loving. 2 At the same time, it also contained ontological teachings about the nature of women. Women, theologians wrote, were closer to the body than men; Adam was created in God's image rendering men more spiritual, while Eve was created from Adam's rib rendering them more bodily. 3 Thus, to many thinkers at the time, women were naturally more beastly than men. 4 Women's sexuality only accentuated their association to animals. Being more corporeal, women were considered to be more sexual than men, indeed they were slandered as sexually insatiable. 5
The Book of Nature and Humanity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, 2013
The power's all within her / As she takes off her clothes.
Italian Culture, Sep 2012
Accessus ad Auctores: Studies in Honor of Christopher Kleinhenz, 2011
Rustico Filippi (ca. 1230 -ca. 1299) was probably the rst Italian poet to explore the poetics of ... more Rustico Filippi (ca. 1230 -ca. 1299) was probably the rst Italian poet to explore the poetics of insult. During the Middle Ages, literature was categorized as a subset of ethics; through the descriptions of characters, all literature consisted of the praise of the worthy, or of the blame of the reprehensible. Literature enforced traditional morality by inspiring admiration or condemnation in the readers.
This is a translation of, and introduction to, Giovanni Sercambi's tale 31. It is the narrative ... more This is a translation of, and introduction to, Giovanni Sercambi's tale 31. It is the narrative of an abbess who initiates novices into her convent by having sex with them. Documentation of female same-sex practices in medieval Italy is virtually non-existent; and while this tale cannot be taken as a historically accurate document, through humor it posits the possibility of lesbian activity otherwise unattested.
