Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models
This paper presents the methodology and the results of an analytical study of the three witnesses of Dante’s 'Commedia' copied by Giovanni Boccaccio, focusing on the importance of their digital accessibility. These extraordinary materials allow us to further our knowledge of Boccaccio’s cu...
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doaj-d02a1cac463248578d3012f8071b3f782020-11-25T01:22:41ZengOpen Library of HumanitiesDigital Medievalist1715-07362019-09-0112110.16995/dm.8171Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-ModelsSonia Tempestini0Elena Spadini1Università della Svizzera ItalianaUniversité de LausanneThis paper presents the methodology and the results of an analytical study of the three witnesses of Dante’s 'Commedia' copied by Giovanni Boccaccio, focusing on the importance of their digital accessibility. These extraordinary materials allow us to further our knowledge of Boccaccio’s cultural trajectory as a scribe and as an author, and could be useful for the study of the textual tradition of Dante’s 'Commedia'. In the first section of the paper, the manuscripts and their role in previous scholarship are introduced. A thorough analysis of a choice of variants is then offered, applying specific categories for organizing the 'varia lectio'. This taxonomy shows how fundamental it is to combine the methodological tools for studying copies (as usual in medieval philology) and those for studying author’s manuscripts (as usual in modern philology) in dealing with the three manuscripts of Boccaccio’s 'Commedia': in fact, the comparative analysis of the three manuscripts has much to reveal not only of their genetic relationship but also of Boccaccio’s editorial practices. Furthermore, the analytic categories inform the computational model behind the web application ‘La 'Commedia' di Boccaccio’, <http://boccacciocommedia.unil.ch/> created for accessing and querying the variants. The model, implemented in a relational database, allows for the systematic management of different features of textual variations, distinguishing readings and their relationships, without setting a base text. The paper closes on a view to repurposing the model for handling other textual transmissions, working at the intersection between textual criticism and information technology.https://journal.digitalmedievalist.org/articles/81digital philologydata modelItalian literaturedatabasetextual variation |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Sonia Tempestini Elena Spadini |
spellingShingle |
Sonia Tempestini Elena Spadini Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models Digital Medievalist digital philology data model Italian literature database textual variation |
author_facet |
Sonia Tempestini Elena Spadini |
author_sort |
Sonia Tempestini |
title |
Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models |
title_short |
Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models |
title_full |
Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models |
title_fullStr |
Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models |
title_full_unstemmed |
Querying Variants: Boccaccio’s ‘Commedia’ and Data-Models |
title_sort |
querying variants: boccaccio’s ‘commedia’ and data-models |
publisher |
Open Library of Humanities |
series |
Digital Medievalist |
issn |
1715-0736 |
publishDate |
2019-09-01 |
description |
This paper presents the methodology and the results of an analytical study of the three witnesses of Dante’s 'Commedia' copied by Giovanni Boccaccio, focusing on the importance of their digital accessibility. These extraordinary materials allow us to further our knowledge of Boccaccio’s cultural trajectory as a scribe and as an author, and could be useful for the study of the textual tradition of Dante’s 'Commedia'. In the first section of the paper, the manuscripts and their role in previous scholarship are introduced. A thorough analysis of a choice of variants is then offered, applying specific categories for organizing the 'varia lectio'. This taxonomy shows how fundamental it is to combine the methodological tools for studying copies (as usual in medieval philology) and those for studying author’s manuscripts (as usual in modern philology) in dealing with the three manuscripts of Boccaccio’s 'Commedia': in fact, the comparative analysis of the three manuscripts has much to reveal not only of their genetic relationship but also of Boccaccio’s editorial practices. Furthermore, the analytic categories inform the computational model behind the web application ‘La 'Commedia' di Boccaccio’, <http://boccacciocommedia.unil.ch/> created for accessing and querying the variants. The model, implemented in a relational database, allows for the systematic management of different features of textual variations, distinguishing readings and their relationships, without setting a base text. The paper closes on a view to repurposing the model for handling other textual transmissions, working at the intersection between textual criticism and information technology. |
topic |
digital philology data model Italian literature database textual variation |
url |
https://journal.digitalmedievalist.org/articles/81 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT soniatempestini queryingvariantsboccaccioscommediaanddatamodels AT elenaspadini queryingvariantsboccaccioscommediaanddatamodels |
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1725126078623645696 |