For centuries, the “fantastic” has permeated the European Medieval literature: from Prester John Kingdom to the search for Terrestrial Paradise, from monstrous peoples to fantastic beasts. These are all elements which men believed to be real, and that, later, have characterized the first stage of the geographical explorations, together with the whole Christian imagination. They were then transformed and adapted into travel journals, memoirs, and this kind of literature between XVI and XVII centuries. A kind of literature that circulated widely in Europe and in Southern Italy, as it can be observed through the examination of some aristocratic libraries taken into consideration.
Il fantastico ha permeato per secoli la letteratura medievale europea: dal Regno del Prete Gianni alla ricerca del Paradiso terrestre, dai popoli mostruosi agli animali fantastici. Elementi, questi, creduti reali, hanno poi caratterizzato, insieme a tutto l’immaginario cristiano, la prima fase delle scoperte geografiche, trasformandosi e adattandosi nei diari di viaggio, nelle memorie e, in generale, in tutta la letteratura del genere tra XVI e XVII secolo. Una letteratura che aveva ampia circolazione in Europa e, a giudicare dagli inventari di alcune biblioteche nobiliari prese in esame, anche nel Mezzogiorno d’Italia.
Il viaggio fantastico nelle biblioteche del Mezzogiorno in età moderna
D'Onofrio A
2023-01-01
Abstract
For centuries, the “fantastic” has permeated the European Medieval literature: from Prester John Kingdom to the search for Terrestrial Paradise, from monstrous peoples to fantastic beasts. These are all elements which men believed to be real, and that, later, have characterized the first stage of the geographical explorations, together with the whole Christian imagination. They were then transformed and adapted into travel journals, memoirs, and this kind of literature between XVI and XVII centuries. A kind of literature that circulated widely in Europe and in Southern Italy, as it can be observed through the examination of some aristocratic libraries taken into consideration.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.