The fable I posted on Saturday was an adaptation; the origin of the fables story-line is from a Homiletic Midrashin written sometime after the Babylonian Captivity by a learned rabbi. I wrote this fable as a 14th Century Barone della Corte based upon a midrash that I found while researching another topic. This story will be included in one of my writing projects: Il Libro del Barone della Corte (The Book of the Baron of the Court). I have been writing this book because I want to experience what it would be like to be an educated noble who wished to provide his sons with instructions on the Chivalric Virtues. This concept replicates a period writing, i.e. The Book of the Knight of the Tower. Some time ago, I was charmed by The Book of the Knight of the Tower and over the past decade, I referenced the book at least three times in my Collegium presentations/classes. The Book of the Knight of the Tower is a collection of folk stories, fables and sermons illustrating right action and virtue in Medieval France. The Knight of the Tower was a reference to the author who was a simple knight with three daughters. This knight fought many battles and in view of the fact that the next battle might be his last, he wrote a book for his three daughters so that even if he died in battle, he would be able to give his daughters instruction on what he believed to be important, i.e. a moral life of virtue. I have been fussing around with Il Libro del Barone della Corte for some time; however, it now represents one of two writing project that I am creating. As for my other writing project, I am preparing a book of prose and poetry created along the lines of Dantes La Vita Nuova (A New Life). The prose and poetry are completely my own. Una Seconda Vita (A Second Life), represents a series of conversations (sometimes the conversations take on the presentation of disputations) between the 9 Classical Muses and an aging Patrician. The book will be presented not unlike Dantes rather short folio La Vita Nuova, i.e. a series of short chapters with poetry; however, I am including a series of footnotes which illustrate period poetic forms.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 23:44:43 +0000