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Johannes de Hauvilla: Architrenius

Johannes de Hauvilla author Winthrop Wetherbee editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:19th Jan '06

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Johannes de Hauvilla: Architrenius cover

An edition with translation of a vivacious and influential Latin satirical poem dating from 1184.

The Architrenius is a vivacious and influential Latin satirical poem dating from 1184. It describes the journey of a young man (the 'Arch-Weeper') on the threshold of maturity. Winthrop Wetherbee's prose translation is presented alongside the original Latin, and augmented by an introduction and extensive notes.The Architrenius is a vivacious and influential Latin satirical poem in nine books dating from 1184. It describes the journey of a young man (the 'Arch-Weeper') on the threshold of maturity, confronting the ills of the church, the court, and the schools of late twelfth-century Europe. Dramatising the human tendency towards vice and the vanity of worldly things, the poem is full of social commentary and flights of brilliant description. There are characteristic scenes in which a desire that combines prurience with frank sexuality is set against a quasi-religious idealism. The directness with which the poem engages social and psychological problems anticipates the work of the great vernacular writers Boccaccio and Chaucer. Winthrop Wetherbee's prose translation is presented alongside the original Latin, and augmented by an introduction and extensive notes.

"This translation performs a useful service. It makes available to the non-Latinist (including the moderately competent Latinist) a poem that enjoyed a surprising popularity. It is not a task that I would have wished to take on myself." Speculum-A Journal of Medieval Studies

ISBN: 9780521405669

Dimensions: 215mm x 140mm x 18mm

Weight: 402g

312 pages