Papers by Jasmine Bria
Rhesis. International Journal of Linguistics, Philology and Literature, 2024
The accounts of King Arthur assume a central role for the first time in the Historia Regum Britan... more The accounts of King Arthur assume a central role for the first time in the Historia Regum Britanniae by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1136), which was first translated into French octosyllabic verse by Wace in his Roman de Brut (c. 1155), and subsequently into semi-alliterative verse by the English poet Laȝamon (c. 1205). In these narratives, two of the primary male figures –– namely Arthur and Merlin –– are depicted as the result of non-consensual unions. Merlin is described as the offspring of an incubus who visits a sometimes-unconscious girl, whereas Arthur is conceived as the result of a plan devised by Merlin and Uther to deceive Igraine, wife of one of the king’s vassals. Both women disappear from the narrative after the birth of their children and both births are imbued with the trappings of magic and romantic tropes, which serve to obscure the absence of explicit consent.
The aim of this paper is to undertake a comparative reading of the two episodes across Geoffrey’s, Wace’s and Laȝamon’s narratives, in order to uncover the strategies adopted to soften the discomfort with the depiction of events imbued with moral ambiguities.
LEA : Lingue e Letterature d'Oriente e d'Occidente, Dec 22, 2023
Monstrosity is a constant presence in Old English literature. In particular, Wonders of the East ... more Monstrosity is a constant presence in Old English literature. In particular, Wonders of the East depicts everything that was perceived as strange, significantly located in the East, displaying a Mediterranean-centric perspective where Europe works as the ideal centre of the cosmos. Early English Medieval people adopted this notion, which, however, seems to consign the island to the margins of civilization. is paper investigates how the position of Britain at the border of the map impacted the perceived degree of civilization of the Early Medieval English people and how their geographical location might have imbued the idea of Englishness with monstrosity.
LEA, 2023
Monstrosity is a constant presence in Old English literature. In particular, Wonders of... more Monstrosity is a constant presence in Old English literature. In particular, Wonders of the East depicts everything that was perceived as strange, signif-icantly located in the East, displaying a Mediterranean-centric perspective where Europe works as the ideal centre of the cosmos. Early English Medieval people adopted this notion, which, however, seems to consign the island to the margins of civilization. !is paper investigates how the position of Britain at the border of the map impacted the perceived degree of civilization of the Early Medieval English people and how their geographical location might have imbued the idea of Englishness with monstrosity.Keywords: Borders, Boundaries, Early Medieval England, Hybridity, Monstrosity1. Monstrosity in Early Medieval England!e idea of the monster looms large over Early Medieval English imagery. Giants, freaks, demons, and hybrid beasts recur time and again in the literary and artistic documentation of the Early Medieval period in England. For instance, giants are, more often than not, identified as artisans of past eras, constructing buildings of unexplained magnificence (!e Wanderer, l. 87a; !e Ruin, l. 2b; Andreas, ll. 1235a and 1495; Maxims II, l. 2a; Elene, l. 30). Moreover, four out of the five works making up the famous Nowell Codex foreground monstrosity: while the three monstrous opponents of Beowulf have long been seen as the most significant representation in this regard, the Codex deals with various types of monstrosities in different ways, from Christopher’s canine nature to the two lists of marvellous.
Lo snodo / La svolta: Permanenze, riemersioni e dialettica dei livelli di cultura nel testo, 2021
Nell’Inghilterra anglosassone, sin dalla fine del VII secolo, la letteratura enigmatografica most... more Nell’Inghilterra anglosassone, sin dalla fine del VII secolo, la letteratura enigmatografica mostra una significativa diffusione. Sul modello dell’opera del poeta tardo-antico Simposio (IV-V secolo), l’attività di ecclesiastici di rilievo quali Aldelmo (640-709) o Tatuino (m. 734), ma anche di anonimi compilatori di antologie manoscritte, produce più raccolte di enigmi in versi latini, che trovano ampia diffusione negli ambienti monastici. La collezione di enigmi in antico inglese traditi all’interno del codice Exeter, Cathedral Library, MS 3501 (Exeter Book), manoscritto antologico di poesia religiosa e secolare, può essere considerata come evoluzione di questa tradizione, una sorta di ramo distaccato.
Aenigmata anglo-latini e riddles anglosassoni condividono soggetti e motivi, oltre che alcuni tratti stilistici e strutturali; tuttavia, gli enigmi dell’Exeter Book, elaborati in un contesto in cui si intrecciano influssi culturali alti, pratiche enigmistiche popolari e tradizioni poetiche autoctone, si pongono come punto di svolta rispetto alla tradizione preesistente in lingua latina. All’interno della collezione in antico inglese, la dialettica tra le diverse sollecitazioni culturali è evidente nelle forme di riscrittura adoperate per i soggetti enigmistici classici, già presenti nelle raccolte latine. Nelle rielaborazioni dell’antico motivo del “pesce nel fiume” (#85) oppure della figura del bue (#72), ai tratti di giocosa sfida che caratterizzano il genere enigmistico, la poesia anglosassone aggiunge un peculiare senso di malinconia, enunciato attraverso riflessioni sull’esistenza e sull’inevitabilità della morte e della sofferenza. Gli enigmi dell’Exeter Book si rivelano essere il prodotto di influenze tra le più diversificate; in essi, la dialettica tra i generi enigmatografico, eroico ed elegiaco si intreccia allo scambio continuo tra forme di elaborazione in lingua latina e in lingua antico inglese.
Filologia Antica e Moderna, 2022
In the Old English poetic corpus, the lyric persona was used with relative flexibility even withi... more In the Old English poetic corpus, the lyric persona was used with relative flexibility even within the confines of the prevailing poetic traditions. In particular, The Seafarer, a poem conventionally ascribed to the ‘elegiac’ genre, is a fictional first-person account of the physical and mental tribulations of an exile sailing on a stormy sea. Containing echoes of heroic, homiletic, and eschatological themes, the seafarer’s journey has been variously interpreted in an allegoricalmetaphorical light. This paper aims to investigate The Seafarer as a lyric poem, approached through its non-narrative elements, images and rhetorical strategies defining the emotional experience of the speaker.
Annali. Sezione Germanica 32, 2022
Ageing, just like any other complex period of life, can be experienced and there-fore portrayed ... more Ageing, just like any other complex period of life, can be experienced and there-fore portrayed in a variety of ways. The appraisal of this late stage of human ex-istence by poets, philosophers, and other visual artists usually depends upon their narrative’s aims. Layamon’s Brut is a chronicle-style account of legendary events involving the monarchs of Britain. Among the various approaches to power and ideas of kingship represented in the poem, the story of Leir — a king who pre-pares to succession after reigning for more than sixty years and asks his daughters how much they love him – takes on a pivotal role. As a matter of fact, the king’s actions can be used to detect a form of ideal kingship, a primary concern that emerges from the Brut’s pages. This paper aims to explore the modalities through which Layamon depicts a king in his advanced years, thus raising fundamental concerns about all the issues that medieval kings faced once they reached old age.
Medioevo Europeo, 2022
In his Brut, the poet Layamon rewrites the origin myth of Britain according to his own literary p... more In his Brut, the poet Layamon rewrites the origin myth of Britain according to his own literary purposes. While drawing on the work of his predecessors, Geoffrey of Monmouth and Wace, the English author employs supernatural devices far more freely. The interference of the magical universe in the historical-heroic narrative intensifies in the Arthurian section of the text, particularly in regard to the presence of the mysterious aluen in the story of the British monarch. The impact of these supernatural creatures appears to have been added by Layamon to characterize the figure of Arthur in a positive way, as someone who will be remembered for his exceptionality in comparison to other kings depicted in the poem. A systematic examination of the vocabulary used at key points in the Arthurian journey enables us to identify the ways in which the poet explores aspects of the magical and the marvellous in order to imbue the figure of the British king with messianic characteristics, thus distancing him from historical reality.
Filologia Germanica / Germanic Philology, 2021
In the literary space of Old English documentation, the treatise known as Wonders of the East dea... more In the literary space of Old English documentation, the treatise known as Wonders of the East deals with the representations of everything that Anglo-Saxon society perceived as completely foreign, the Other posited in the Elsewhere. Within these descriptions the dimension of magic seems to enter in a marginal but significant way. In particular, besides the inserted fragment depicting the two sorcerers of the apocryphal Old Testament, Jamnes and Mambres, the hybrid race known as donestre is represented as a people of soothsayers. Their main feature is, effectively, the ability to guess the language of the people who visit them in order to better communicate, learn their trust and eventually killing them by eating them. The divinatory power, used for evil purposes, adds to the deceptive and anthropophagic nature of the donestre and it becomes a further determining element of monstrosity. This essay aims to investigate how the treatise establishes an association between these semi-human creatures, located beyond the edge of the known world, and the practitioners of magical arts, positioned on the fringes of the Anglo-Saxon community, while identifying the ways in which magic can be used as a characterizing element in the marginalization of the Other.
Neophilologus
The Exeter Book Riddles provide insight into how early English medieval people felt about their p... more The Exeter Book Riddles provide insight into how early English medieval people felt about their place in the non-human world by giving voice to many non-human creatures. Riddle 26 depicts the creation of a manuscript from the perspective of a sheep becoming a page. A close reading of the riddle reveals that the poem is divided into two nearly identical sections, which are built around the contrast between the fundamental and material elements of book-making and the cultural and religious utility of a manuscript.The riddle begins with the killing of the animal at the hands of an unknown foe and then follows the speaking subject through its forced metamorphosis. The employment of a first-person narrator establishes an empathetic bond between the animal speaking voice and the human audience. However, near the middle of the poem, the tone changes dramatically as the emphasis turns from animal materialism to human spirituality. The closing lines insist on the beauty of the craft, the cul...
Filologia Antica e Moderna, 2018
Anglo-Saxon England was highly fascinated by monstrous creatures. The whole Old English literary ... more Anglo-Saxon England was highly fascinated by monstrous creatures. The whole Old English literary corpus is full of monsters and hybrid figures. Monstrosity and hybridity seem to be the categories of imagination preferred to deal with the heterogeneous and contradictory elements characterizing the formation of a culturally unitary England.
This article looks at these chosen metaphors through their direct representation in the Wonders of the East and through the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon origin myth. It will draw an imaginary line between the monstrous races, depicted in the Wonders of the East as distant but dangerous entities for the Anglo-Saxon reader, and the feral characters of Hengest and Horsa, leaders in the migration myth, elected as progenitors of the Anglo-Saxon race and symbol of the nation.
Medioevo Europeo, 2017
Among the most interesting aspects characterizing Laȝamon’s Brut, the presence of a rich animal i... more Among the most interesting aspects characterizing Laȝamon’s Brut, the presence of a rich animal imagery is of particular relevance. This long poem in semi-allitterative verses is full of the creatures that populate the medieval landscape. These figures appear in the text during the most dramatic scenes or within dreams and prophecies, both as descriptive elements and as long and elaborate similes.
A systematic reading of the several images used throughout the poem helps to identify the means through which the poet exploits the symbolic and ambivalent character of each animal. This imagery, evoked as such by Laȝamon, charges the text of multiple meanings and it can be seen as the expression of a poetic style resulted from the most varied influences and traditions.
Book Reviews by Jasmine Bria
Filologia Antica e Moderna, 2020
«FILOLOGIA ANTICA E MODERNA» è una rivista scientifica peer-reviewed I contributi proposti per la... more «FILOLOGIA ANTICA E MODERNA» è una rivista scientifica peer-reviewed I contributi proposti per la valutazione (articolo, saggio, recensione) redatti in forma definitiva secondo le norme indicate sul sito web www.filologiaanticaemoderna.unical.it, devono essere inviati in formato elettronico all'indirizzo [email protected]. I libri e le riviste per scambio e recensione devono essere inviati al Comitato di Reda
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Papers by Jasmine Bria
The aim of this paper is to undertake a comparative reading of the two episodes across Geoffrey’s, Wace’s and Laȝamon’s narratives, in order to uncover the strategies adopted to soften the discomfort with the depiction of events imbued with moral ambiguities.
Aenigmata anglo-latini e riddles anglosassoni condividono soggetti e motivi, oltre che alcuni tratti stilistici e strutturali; tuttavia, gli enigmi dell’Exeter Book, elaborati in un contesto in cui si intrecciano influssi culturali alti, pratiche enigmistiche popolari e tradizioni poetiche autoctone, si pongono come punto di svolta rispetto alla tradizione preesistente in lingua latina. All’interno della collezione in antico inglese, la dialettica tra le diverse sollecitazioni culturali è evidente nelle forme di riscrittura adoperate per i soggetti enigmistici classici, già presenti nelle raccolte latine. Nelle rielaborazioni dell’antico motivo del “pesce nel fiume” (#85) oppure della figura del bue (#72), ai tratti di giocosa sfida che caratterizzano il genere enigmistico, la poesia anglosassone aggiunge un peculiare senso di malinconia, enunciato attraverso riflessioni sull’esistenza e sull’inevitabilità della morte e della sofferenza. Gli enigmi dell’Exeter Book si rivelano essere il prodotto di influenze tra le più diversificate; in essi, la dialettica tra i generi enigmatografico, eroico ed elegiaco si intreccia allo scambio continuo tra forme di elaborazione in lingua latina e in lingua antico inglese.
This article looks at these chosen metaphors through their direct representation in the Wonders of the East and through the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon origin myth. It will draw an imaginary line between the monstrous races, depicted in the Wonders of the East as distant but dangerous entities for the Anglo-Saxon reader, and the feral characters of Hengest and Horsa, leaders in the migration myth, elected as progenitors of the Anglo-Saxon race and symbol of the nation.
A systematic reading of the several images used throughout the poem helps to identify the means through which the poet exploits the symbolic and ambivalent character of each animal. This imagery, evoked as such by Laȝamon, charges the text of multiple meanings and it can be seen as the expression of a poetic style resulted from the most varied influences and traditions.
Book Reviews by Jasmine Bria
The aim of this paper is to undertake a comparative reading of the two episodes across Geoffrey’s, Wace’s and Laȝamon’s narratives, in order to uncover the strategies adopted to soften the discomfort with the depiction of events imbued with moral ambiguities.
Aenigmata anglo-latini e riddles anglosassoni condividono soggetti e motivi, oltre che alcuni tratti stilistici e strutturali; tuttavia, gli enigmi dell’Exeter Book, elaborati in un contesto in cui si intrecciano influssi culturali alti, pratiche enigmistiche popolari e tradizioni poetiche autoctone, si pongono come punto di svolta rispetto alla tradizione preesistente in lingua latina. All’interno della collezione in antico inglese, la dialettica tra le diverse sollecitazioni culturali è evidente nelle forme di riscrittura adoperate per i soggetti enigmistici classici, già presenti nelle raccolte latine. Nelle rielaborazioni dell’antico motivo del “pesce nel fiume” (#85) oppure della figura del bue (#72), ai tratti di giocosa sfida che caratterizzano il genere enigmistico, la poesia anglosassone aggiunge un peculiare senso di malinconia, enunciato attraverso riflessioni sull’esistenza e sull’inevitabilità della morte e della sofferenza. Gli enigmi dell’Exeter Book si rivelano essere il prodotto di influenze tra le più diversificate; in essi, la dialettica tra i generi enigmatografico, eroico ed elegiaco si intreccia allo scambio continuo tra forme di elaborazione in lingua latina e in lingua antico inglese.
This article looks at these chosen metaphors through their direct representation in the Wonders of the East and through the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon origin myth. It will draw an imaginary line between the monstrous races, depicted in the Wonders of the East as distant but dangerous entities for the Anglo-Saxon reader, and the feral characters of Hengest and Horsa, leaders in the migration myth, elected as progenitors of the Anglo-Saxon race and symbol of the nation.
A systematic reading of the several images used throughout the poem helps to identify the means through which the poet exploits the symbolic and ambivalent character of each animal. This imagery, evoked as such by Laȝamon, charges the text of multiple meanings and it can be seen as the expression of a poetic style resulted from the most varied influences and traditions.