The literary creation of a myth of Alexander the Great in European literatures
-I-ANR PROJECT (2009-2014)
The literary creation of a myth of Alexander the Great in European literatures (10th century-early 16th century)
Project CPER 2009-2010
Project ANR 2009-2013 (ANR-09-BLAN-0307-01)
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, professor of Mediaeval French literature, University Charles-de-Gaulle - Lille 3
Our team aims to study the processes through which the myth of Alexander the Great was received and transmitted across an extraordinary range of linguistic and cultural boundaries between the eleventh century and the first half of the sixteenth century in Western and Eastern Europe. These processes involved the production of numerous texts that not only perpetuated but also reinvented the myth. Through them, we witness the making of an ideal figure of medieval royalty, a figure that is at once common to a wide range of works, yet varies according to the specific cultural and historical context in which it is embedded. Addressing a vast European corpus, we will be asking ourselves why and how the memory of Alexander the Great inspired such a large number and variety of works, many of which were highly innovative since they inaugurated new forms of literary discourse. Even though we have chosen to work on this particular historical period and within these spatial boundaries and although we will be putting the emphasis on literature rather than on other forms of creativity -such as manuscript illumination, which we may still be looking at - ours is a vast and rewarding field of research, spanning five and a half centuries and covering the whole spectrum of European literatures. The originality of our collaborative venture lies in our comparative perspective and methods. Our interdisciplinary team, which meets at regular intervals, consists of twelve scholars of literature and history, specializing in Byzantine, Armenian, Slavic (Servian and Russian in particular), medieval Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures.
Publications:
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas (direction), La fascination pour Alexandre le Grand dans les littératures européennes (Xe-XVIe siècle). Réinventions d'un mythe, Turnhout, Brepols, 2014, 4 tomes, 2572 pages, ISBN: 978-2-503-54930-9 (collection Alexander redivivus, 5)
Les auteurs Sommaire tome 1 tome 2 tome 3 tome 4
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, Margaret Bridges et Jean-Yves Tilliette (direction), Trajectoires européennes du Secretum secretorum du Pseudo-Aristote (XIIIe-XVIe siècle), Turnhout, Brepols, 2015, 513 pages, ISBN: 978-2-503-55415-0 (Alexander redivivus, 6)
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas (direction), Alexandre le Grand à la lumière des manuscrits et des premiers imprimés en Europe (XIIe-XVIe siècle): Matérialité des textes, contextes et paratextes: des lectures originales, Turnhout, Brepols, 2015, ISBN: 978-2-503-55414-3 (Alexander redivivus, 7), sous presse
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas et Margaret Bridges (direction), Les voyages d’Alexandre au paradis: Orient et Occident, regards croisés, Turnhout, Brepols, 2013, 547 pages, ISBN: 978-2-503-54623-0 (Alexander redivivus, 3)
Corinne Jouanno (direction), Alexandre à la Renaissance, Turnhout, Brepols, 2012, 308 pages, ISBN 978-2-503-54331-4 (Alexander redivivus, 2)
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas (direction), L’historiographie médiévale d’Alexandre, Turnhout, Brepols, 2011, 375 pages, ISBN 978-2-503-54098-6 (Alexander redivivus, 1)
Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas (direction), Les Vœux du Paon de Jacques de Longuyon : originalité et rayonnement, Paris, Klincksieck, 2011, collection « Circare » (dir. P. Brunel et B. Ribémont), 346 pages, ISBN : 978-2-252-03775-1.
OUVRAGES INDIVIDUELS
EDITIONS CRITIQUES
L'Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César ou Histoires pour Roger, châtelain de Lille, de Wauchier de Denain, l'histoire de la Macédoine et d'Alexandre le Grand, éd. Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, édition critique du texte de Wauchier de Denain; édition critique du remaniement franco-italien du codex 2576 de Vienne; Le Premier Volume d'Orose, Antoine Vérard, 1491, texte, Turnhout, Brepols, 2012, 474 pages, ISBN: 978-2-503-54213-3 (Alexander redivivus, 4)
L'Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César ou Histoires pour Roger, châtelain de Lille, de Wauchier de Denain, l'histoire de l’Orient perse de Cyrus à Assuérus, éd. Anne Rochebouet, édition critique du texte de Wauchier de Denain; édition critique du remaniement franco-italien du codex 2576 de Vienne; Le Premier Volume d'Orose, Antoine Vérard, 1491, texte; sous presse, à paraître en 2015 (Alexander redivivus, 8)
-II-IUF PROJECT (2014-2019)
European writings and readings on Alexander the Great in 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries
The project focuses on the reception of Alexander the Great from 14th to 17th century, in France and in Europe: continuity and renewal of historical and fictional writings of his life, their literary, political and social usages, at a pivotal period which deeply transforms the linguistic and literary models, the apprehension of Antiquity, conceptions of History and its writing, those of translation, with humanism, and when the transition from manuscript to print diversifies publics and readings. The submitted project plans three parts:
(1) Critical éditions of texts hitherto unpublished: La Bouquechardière of Jean de Courcy and the first translation of Historiae of Quinte-Curce by Vasque de Lucène.
(2) A study programme:
-a comprehensive survey of French writing on Alexander in C15th and C16th
-international study days around the European reception for Historiae by Quinte-Curce
-the birth of Alexander-based theater
-portraits of Greek philosophers (including Alexander)
-Alexander in the French universal stories.
