The Figure of Medea and its Myth



This course proposes to study the figure of Medea as perceived and interpreted by various Mediterranean authors, from the time of her conception in Ancient Greece through our own day. Everyone knows that Medea is a woman who kills her children. But who is she? And why does she do it? She is the timid princess of a faraway land who is seduced and abandoned by an adventurer, the powerful granddaughter of a Sun god, the slighted heroine who is compelled to seek revenge for her stolen honor, the woman of wisdom, the betrayed lover, the heartbroken mother. Innumerable writers, composers and directors have interpreted in their own way the story of Medea, and in so doing have told something of themselves, of their time and their culture: from Euripides to Seneca, Dante to Christine de Pizan, Lope de Vega to Pierre Corneille, Corrado Alvaro to Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Annibale Ruccello to Max Rouquette; from Greece to Rome, France to Spain, and from Naples to Africa: this archetypical figure has made appearances and played a role in cultural thought.



Required texts: Giulia Tellini, Storie di Medea, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2012, ISBN 978-88 6087 5273

Euripide, Seneca, Grillparzer, Alvaro, Medea. Variazioni sul mito, a cura di Maria Grazia Ciani, Venezia, Marsilio, 1999, ISBN 978-88-317-7250-1