"Sens e razos d'una escriptura". La teatralità del meraviglioso nel Vangelo occitano di Nicodemo

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of Marvelous in the Occitan poem Sens e razos d’una escriptura. The poem opens with a translation in 2144 verses of the Evangelium Nicodemi; it then proceeds to relate the story of the Antichrist and a list of the Fifteen Signs which are to precede the Last Judgement. Beside an ‘objective marvelous’ (the so-called ‘Christian Marvelous’), basing on the investigation of the vocabulary the author identifies a form of ‘theatrical marvelous’, exemplified in the tales (miracula and exempla) embedded in the text. Therefore, the apocryphal source proves to be a great tool for new reflections on the medieval merveilleux.