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italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies Call for Papers on Medieval and Early Modern topics for the convention of American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI) to be hold in Lecce, Italy, on May 26-30, 2010. **Title: Dante’s /Inferno / and Parody: Organizer: Dino S. Cervigni Affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Address: UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3170 e-mail: [log in to unmask] Session description: Dante’s /Inferno/, situated between Christ’s harrowing of Hell and Lucifer, stands in direct antithesis to God’s creation before the fall as well as Christ’s redeemed world. Thus Dante’s Hell, overturning God’s exemplary model, configures the so-called /mondo alla rovescia/ or/ a soqquadro/: a topsy-turvy world. The principle to which the inhabitants of this /mondo alla rovescia /are subjected is portrayed graphically and proclaimed effectively by Bertran de Born, as he holds his head as if a lantern: the law of /contrapasso /(/Inf. /28.136-42). This philosophical (/Nichomachaean Ethics /5.5) and theological (St. Thomas, /Summa /2-2 q. 612 a. 4) concept of retaliation or /contrapasso/ is rendered shockingly by the Old Testament /lex talionis/ (Ex. 21.23-25). A philosophical and theological notion, this law of /contrapasso /at work in Dante’s Hell is reconfigured narratively and poetically by what Northrop Frye calls the mythos of winter and the genre of satire and parody. Situated outside time, Lucifer, his minions, and Hell’s denizens dramatize their rejection of Christ’s loving and redeeming act and cannot but parody His sacrifice, as does most visibly Lucifer, stretched out like a cross in the deepest pit of Hell. Turning the law of /contrapasso /into a poetic and narrative myth, parody becomes also the exegetical principle readers must adopt to interpret appropriately Dante’s Hell. In brief, parody provides Dante the Poet with all the fundamental images needed to reconfigure his Hell as a topsy-turvy world. **Title: Boccaccio’s /Decameron /and the Practice of Irony/Parody Organizer: Dino S. Cervigni Affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Address: UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3170 e-mail: [log in to unmask] Session description: Several critics (e.g., Delcorno 1995; Kircher 2001) have emphasized the role of irony/parody in Boccaccio’s tales. In pointing out a crisis not just in the exemplum tradition but also in medieval life as well, Boccaccio subverts exemplary tales, hagiographic stories, and even sacred myths in order to show the decadence of his world (mostly in /Decameron /1-9) in an attempt to recreate a new society, primarily in /Decameron /10. ** Title: Open sessions on the medieval and early modern era Organizer: Dino S. Cervigni Affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Address: UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3170 e-mail: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Colleagues who cannot find a suitable session for their presentations are welcome to join these open sessions on the medieval and early modern era. ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html