Negotiating the Corrupting Sea: Literature in and of the Medieval Mediterranean

Abstract

What is medieval Mediterranean Literature? Since literary texts are defined in the first instance by the language in which they are composed, it is not immediately apparent what could count as “Mediterranean” literature. This essay explores what a “Mediterranean” literary corpus might look like: texts that highlight themes (connectivity, piracy, commerce, cultural contact, and more) described by historians of the Mediterranean; texts in which the sea or sea travel play a central role; texts that through translation and adaptation have themselves traveled across two or more Mediterranean cultures; texts in which the Mediterranean is an indispensable frame of reference; texts shaped by significant Mediterranean events (such as the Sicilian Vespers ). Special attention is given to the longue durée of Mediterranean literature (in a nod to Fernand Braudel ) and to texts that highlight the mutual intelligibility linking politically, linguistically, or religiously different societies.