The Alexandreis: A Twelfth-century Epic - Brossura

Walter Of Chatillon

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1551116766 ISBN 13: 9781551116761

Casa editrice: Broadview Pr, 2006

Riassunto

Walter of Châtillon’s Latin epic on the life of Alexander the Great was a twelfth- and thirteenth-century “best-seller:” scribes produced over two hundred manuscripts. The poem follows Alexander from his first successes in Asia Minor, through his conquest of Persia and India, to his progressive moral degeneration and his poisoning by a disaffected lieutenant. The Alexandreis exemplifies twelfth-century discourses of world domination and the exoticism of the East. But at the same time it calls such dreams of mastery into question, repeatedly undercutting as it does Alexander’s claims to heroism and virtue and by extension, similar claims by the great men of Walter’s own generation. This extraordinarily layered and subtle poem stands as a high-water mark of the medieval tradition of Latin narrative literature.

Along with David Townsend’s revised translation, this edition provides a rich selection of historical documents, including other writings by Walter of Châtillon, excerpts from other medieval Latin epics, and contemporary accounts of the foreign and “exotic.”

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

David Townsend is Professor of Medieval Studies and English at the University of Toronto.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Broadview Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1551116766
• ISBN 13: 9781551116761
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 282
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile