Prof. Russell Stone to Hold Proseminar this Spring
This semester, Professor Russell Stone will be presenting a pair of proseminars revolving around Medieval Latin and Alexander.
The two spring proseminars will introduce students to the Medieval Latin Alexander material, a foundational component of the largest textual corpus circulating in the Middle Ages. Classical histories and late classical legend (the so-called Pseudo-Callisthenes) long defined the reception of Alexander in both Medieval Latin narratives and vernacular romances that adapted, translated, excerpted, and occasionally rejected them.
The first proseminar will introduce students to the long-standing medieval debate over authoritative source-texts on Alexander – what scribes cite as vera historia (classical histories of Alexander) in opposition to vulgata historia (the influence of legend). This meeting will provide a survey of the medieval Alexander, and we will engage with critical moments of this debate through various texts and genres of the ninth through twelfth centuries.
The second proseminar continues the discussion of the Medieval Latin Alexander by examining manuscripts of some of the most widely circulating texts in medieval Europe. Students will learn the basics of medieval manuscript studies by engaging with digitized manuscripts of texts read in the first meeting. Through these objects of material culture, we will consider libraries, scriptoria, and scribal hands and illuminators – the collective context and evidence of production and readership.
The proseminars will be held on Tuesday, March 3rd & Wednesday, March 25th respectively. Please contact Professor Stephanie Nelson (nelson@bu.edu) with questions .