Gloria Allaire

Italian Literature III: Il Tristano Corsiniano - Arthurian Archives Gloria Allaire

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Text with facing translation of the earliest Italian Tristan romance, providing new evidence for the development of the Tristan strand of the Arthurian legend.; Parallel Italian text and English translation. Publisher Marketing: The Tristano Corsiniano is preserved in a unique manuscript of the Biblioteca Corsiniana housed at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome (MS 55. K.5; formerly Rossi 2593). Written in a mixture of northeastern Italian dialects, the manuscript was probably copied in the third quarter of the fourteenth century. The contents are a much abbreviated descendent of the noted French prose Roman de Tristan; opening with Dinadan's amusing discourses and misadventures, the majority of the story concerns the famous three-day Tournament at Loverzep, and concludes with King Arthur and Lancelot visiting Tristan, Yseut and their companions. The manuscript, although not luxurious, is heavily decorated with designs that perfectly reflect the vigorous and spirited narrative style. This volume presents a new edition of the text, accompanied by the first ever translation into English, thereby making this important version of the Tristan story available more widely. It also includes an introduction, listing of illuminations, bibliography and explanatory notes. Gloria Allaire is Assistant Professor of Italian at the University of Kentucky.

Contributor Bio:  Allaire, Gloria Assitant Professor of Italian, University of Kentucky