Abstract

The essay's main purpose is to eradicate the topic that the Blaquerna is in fact Llull’s autobiography and that the LAA reflects in a direct way R. Llull's mystical experience. While the LAA fits perfectly the general structure of the Blaquerna and could very well nave originally been conceived as a part of this novel, the evidence so far available seems to indicate that the LAA never existed as an independent text.

Abstract

Abstract: The Llibre de meravelles (Felix or the Book of Wonders) by Ramon Llull includes an extensive collection of plausible stories, used by the characters to show their views about the world or to express their position in the debate. The stories are created ad hoc by the author and their life begins and ends with that single enunciation within the novel. That fleeting, ephemeral condition occasionally gives them the appearance of mere narrative hypothesis. Some of these stories even seem to have a provisional or unstable plot which emphasizes their illusory nature. The writing of the book reveals an enormous effort of experimentation, visible not only in the design of the stories, but also in the «dialogue» that is established among them. This desire for experimentation is finally projected onto the reader, as the text truly becomes a guide for inventing new stories. That meta-exemplary dimension is the clearest sign of originality of Llull’s proposal in the scene of Medieval Exemplary Literature.   Key words: Catalan Literature, Medieval Literature, Ramon Llull, Felix or the Book of Wonders, Plausible example, Story, Dialogue, Narrative Experimentation.

Abstract

The manuscript F-129 of the Col·legi de la Sapiència de Palma contains three works of Ramon Llull. It is made up of two separate manuscripts belonging to the first generation of Lullian codices (that is, not later than the first quarter of the fourteenth century). This collection is preceded by a remarkable full-page illustration, an analysis of which shows that it was probably based on a similar miniature from a French codex emanating from Llull’s immediate circle. The codicological model applicable to this manuscrit is that of «libro cortese di lettura».

Abstract

The study of auxiliary verbs in compound tenses («haver» vs. «Ésser») in Old Catalan is a topic discussed in many works. But no research deeply analysing literary works of the time and using an accurate methodology is available. Our purpose is to show that so significant medieval literary works such as «Llibre de Meravelles» by Ramon Llull, «Llibre dels Fets» by King James I & «Tirant lo Blanch», can also provide very valuable information to understand the phenomenon of change of auxiliary. Referring to usage frequencies, we show that chronology plays a great role in these alternations and outline a whole series of factors that explain the observed evolutive tendencies.

Abstract

The contribution of the author of this article to the study of this religious novel inspired by Ramón Llull is to demonstrate that the text we now know derives from a longer text, the author of which must have belonged to the Observants belonging to the Fransciscan order. The author also offers his reflections on diverse themes that have not been analysed so far in the abbreviated version of the «Spill de la vida religiosa».

Abstract

Abstract: Study and proposal of reconstruction of ms. 216 in the Historical Library of the University of Valencia. It is a restored codex from the first half of the 15th century. Many pages of this manuscript were lost, and others were bound incorrectly. In the volume there are medical and didactic works, such as Catalan translations of the Thesarus pauperum by Peter of Spain, the Macer floridus by Odo of Meung, and book II of the Disticha Catonis. There are also works originally written in Catalan, such as the anonymous Llibre de Sent Soví, and Mil proverbis (Book of Thousand Proverbs) by Ramon Llull. The volume’s poor condition makes it difficult to be sure about some aspects of its compilation, which hints at possible problems in the past.Key words: codicology, handwritten transmission, manuscript 216, Historical Library of the University of Valencia, Llibre de Sent Soví, Mil proverbis, Ramon Llull.

Abstract

This paper analyses 6 of the several adaptations for children and young people of Llibre de les Bèsties that have been published this year on the occasion of the Any Llull (2015-2016). After introducing the person of Llull as a well known writer in medieval times and providing a context for Llibre de les Bèsties in his literary production, the paper focuses on the extratextual and textual paratexts of the 6 adaptations analysed here. Having done that we can estate, on the one hand, the target reader of each adaptation and on the other hand, to what extent the message conveyed in his book can be grasped by young readers of the 21st century.

Abstract

Ramon Llull’s first vernacular work, the Lògica del Gatzell, is a verse compendium based on al-Ghazali’s Maqasid al-falasifah and Peter of Spain’s Tractatus, to which he added some elements of his personal thought. Along with the Latin version, the Compendium logicae Algazelis, it shows Llull’s purpose to promote the study of basic philosophical principles by providing two different types of didactic tools, specifically designed for the kind of audience they were addressed to. The vernacular one was intended for people who couldn’t read Latin, thus the author adopted a literary form and a communication strategy which were typical of the romance tradition. The formal and rhetorical analysis of the work, also in comparison to the Arabic source and the Latin Compendium, aims to cast some light on the characteristics of its recipients. 

Abstract

This paper presents a description of the versification phenomena that can be found in three texts written by Ramon Llull: Pecat d’Adam, D’oració (fifth part of Medicina de pecat), and Aplicació de l’Art general. This selection follows a double criterion: all three works are composed according to the same versification model (noves rimades), and extant manuscript copies of these works were made by the same scribe, Guillem Pagès. The metric and strophic analysis of these texts highlights the metric regularity in the writing of the author, as well as the kind of poetic licences used in these works. Furthermore, the analysis of Pagès’ copies shows that this scribe paid great attention to the metrics and the syllabic representation of the verse. 

Abstract

Ramon Llull is the author of a large and remarkable corpus of proverbs. He wrote five proverb collections mainly between 1295 and 1302. After contextualizing these texts in the frame of Llull’s intellectual career, summarising their most relevant features and synthetizing some aspects of paremiological theory about proverb markers, this paper examines the use of a set of rhetoric figures in the formulation of proverbs, specially personification and parallelism, which is put into relation with the functions and applied contexts that Llull envisage for his own proverbs.