Traduzione, volgarizzamento e presenza femminile in testi devozionali bassomedievali

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of translation in medieval religious literature, and investigates the relationship between the issue of vernacular devotional texts and a female authorship or audience. After a few general remarks, the author presents two case studies. The first is the Mirror of Simple Souls, written in the vernacular by Marguerite Porete, a woman condemned as a heretic, and the vernacular (re)trans- lations of this well-known text. The other is the pseudo-Bonaventurian Meditations on the Life of Christ, in which a female audience is clearly present; the problems of its date and original language (Latin or Italian) are discussed: recently it has been hypothesized that the original form of the work could have been written by a woman, in the Italian vernacular. The author stresses the point that medieval translation is a complex phenomenon, and often moves from the vernacular as a source language; however, the essay argues that the presence of a female author or audience does not necessarily imply the existence of a preceding vernacular version.