Pantalea Mazzitello
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Director of the Italian Language Program, European Languages and Studies
School of Humanities
School of Humanities
Ph.D., Indiana University, Bloomington, 2024, Italian Studies
Ph.D., University of Parma, Italy, 2016, Romance Philology
M.A., University of Parma, Italy, 2012, Modern Philology
B.A., University of Parma, Italy, 2009, Modern Literatures
Ph.D., University of Parma, Italy, 2016, Romance Philology
M.A., University of Parma, Italy, 2012, Modern Philology
B.A., University of Parma, Italy, 2009, Modern Literatures
University of California, Irvine
225 Humanities Instructional Building
Irvine, CA 92697
225 Humanities Instructional Building
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Renaissance and Early Modern Studies; Medieval Studies; Italian Literature, Culture and Society.
Research Abstract
My background focuses on the Italian medieval and early modern periods. My research interests primarily include the study of parodic forms, particularly the parody and subversion of the sacred, the relations between parody and satire, blasphemy and social figures of blasphemers, and more generally the dynamics of laughter and humor in medieval and early modern Italian culture.
A strong interdisciplinary approach has constantly informed my scholarship during my doctoral degrees in Italy and the USA. In my doctoral studies in Italy, I worked on Italian vulgarizations from Old French translations of Latin chronicles of the Crusades, specifically the text known as "Estoire d’Eracles," which comprises a translation of William of Tyre’s Latin chronicle and the "Chronique d’Ernoul et Bernard le Trésorier," a French continuation of the chronicle until the end of the 13th century. At its core, this project addresses the cross-cultural transmission of historiographic and legendary themes.
In my years at the University of Parma, I also first developed my interest in Medieval parody, publishing a monograph titled “Il bacio spudorato: Storia dell’osculum infame” (Milano: Medusa, 2015). This work explores the historical context, folkloric traditions, and literary transmission of the theme of the homage to the devil before and during the great wave of persecution against witchcraft in Western Europe. The theories and practices of medieval parody of the sacred are at the core of this work.
My current project expands my interest in parody of the sacred and the subversion of the divine into the early modern period. My research on the use of blasphemy in Renaissance Italian literature detects and uncovers a humorous and secular dimension in using profanities that could not emerge from the study of historical documentation, on which the scholarship on blasphemy has traditionally focused. The project analyzes blasphemous utterances in 16th-century Italian texts and examines the controversial topic of cursing God publicly, on stage, and in social interactions.
By looking at a large corpus of parodic and satirical texts and artifacts from a broad chronological and socio-cultural spectrum, my research seeks to contribute in meaningful ways to this exciting conversation on how to develop new approaches to the study of the past that can enrich our understanding of the present.
A strong interdisciplinary approach has constantly informed my scholarship during my doctoral degrees in Italy and the USA. In my doctoral studies in Italy, I worked on Italian vulgarizations from Old French translations of Latin chronicles of the Crusades, specifically the text known as "Estoire d’Eracles," which comprises a translation of William of Tyre’s Latin chronicle and the "Chronique d’Ernoul et Bernard le Trésorier," a French continuation of the chronicle until the end of the 13th century. At its core, this project addresses the cross-cultural transmission of historiographic and legendary themes.
In my years at the University of Parma, I also first developed my interest in Medieval parody, publishing a monograph titled “Il bacio spudorato: Storia dell’osculum infame” (Milano: Medusa, 2015). This work explores the historical context, folkloric traditions, and literary transmission of the theme of the homage to the devil before and during the great wave of persecution against witchcraft in Western Europe. The theories and practices of medieval parody of the sacred are at the core of this work.
My current project expands my interest in parody of the sacred and the subversion of the divine into the early modern period. My research on the use of blasphemy in Renaissance Italian literature detects and uncovers a humorous and secular dimension in using profanities that could not emerge from the study of historical documentation, on which the scholarship on blasphemy has traditionally focused. The project analyzes blasphemous utterances in 16th-century Italian texts and examines the controversial topic of cursing God publicly, on stage, and in social interactions.
By looking at a large corpus of parodic and satirical texts and artifacts from a broad chronological and socio-cultural spectrum, my research seeks to contribute in meaningful ways to this exciting conversation on how to develop new approaches to the study of the past that can enrich our understanding of the present.
Publications
Il bacio spudorato. Storia dell'Osculum Infame (Milano: Medusa, 2015). 169 pp.
“Eating the Enemy, Eating Sins: Anthropophagy in the Eracles Italian Vulgarization.” Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes. Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies, 36 (2018): 357- 376.
“Les cinq âges du monde.” Calendari. L'uomo, il tempo, le stagioni, Eds. Sonia Maura Barillari e Martina di Febo (Milano: Virtuosa-Mente, 2018): 245-265.
Boccaccio in versi. Atti del Convegno di Parma, 13-14 marzo 2014. Eds. Pantalea Mazzitello, Giulia Raboni, Paolo Rinoldi, Carlo Varotti (Firenze: Franco Cesati, 2016). 284 pp.
“Letteratura, lettura ed erotismo. Un punto sull’epistolografia amorosa di Boccaccio.” Boccaccio in versi. Atti del Convegno di Parma, 13-14 marzo 2014, Eds. Pantalea Mazzitello, Giulia Raboni, Paolo Rinoldi, Carlo Varotti (Firenze: Franco Cesati, 2016): 101-118.
“Letteratura, lettura ed erotismo. Un punto sull’epistolografia amorosa di Boccaccio.” Boccaccio in versi. Atti del Convegno di Parma, 13-14 marzo 2014, Eds. Pantalea Mazzitello, Giulia Raboni, Paolo Rinoldi, Carlo Varotti (Firenze: Franco Cesati, 2016): 101-118.
“Un volgarizzamento fiorentino dell'Olympiade di Pierre de Beauvais (Med.Laur., plut. 61.45).” Forme letterarie del Medioevo romanzo: testo, interpretazione e storia. IX Congresso S.I.F.R., Catania, 22- 26 settembre 2015 (Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino Editore, 2016): 335-348.
“Il bacio spudorato. Breve storia dell’Osculum Infame.” GriseldaOnline 13 (2013)
Professional Societies
Renaissance Society of America
Modern Language Association
American Association of Italian Studies
Sixteenth Century Society Conference
Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7266
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7266
Last updated
10/01/2024
10/01/2024