The Story of Apollonius of Tyre: An Edition and Translation of Two Medieval Iberian Texts

FAIN: RQ-271200-20

Rhodes College (Memphis, TN 38112-1624)
Clara Pascual-Argente (Project Director: December 2019 to present)

Preparation for publication of a critical edition and translation of two medieval Iberian texts: the 13th-century verse romance Libro de Apolonio (Book of Apollonius), and Vida e historia del rey Apolonio (Life and Story of King Apollonius), the latter printed in 1488 and illustrated with 35 German woodcuts. (12 months)

The late antique romance of Apollonius of Tyre is central to the pre-modern literary imagination. Fictional king Apollonius loses and gains lands, riches, and family members across the Mediterranean in a series of twists and turns that riveted medieval audiences in Latin and vernacular languages. We propose to edit and translate two extant versions in Spanish: the thirteenth-century Libro de Apolonio (Book of Apollonius), a masterpiece of medieval European romance little known beyond the confines of Iberian literary history, and the fifteenth-century Vida e historia del rey Apolonio (Life and Story of King Apollonius), in which the same story is reshaped in print for humanist tastes. As the importance of medieval Iberia to the formation of European and Mediterranean cultures becomes increasingly recognized, these versions remain particularly relevant to our understanding of medieval vernacular reception and transformation of ancient culture.