Visio amoris et veneris – T(r)opische Imaginationen von der Liebe

Based on the comparative analysis of two exemplary texts (La elegia di madonna Fiammetta, 1343/44 and Il ninfale fiesolano, 1344/46), this Ph.D. thesis dealed with the literary strategies and narrative devices employed to depict love, sexuality and desire. The roles, functions and transformations of the antique love deities received special consideration.

How is the act of falling in love linguistically expressed? Which roles do Amor and Venus play in it? How does desire show itself, and how is the sexual act expressed in literature? Which roles do antique topoi and their transformations play in these narrative processes? Questions like these were answered using the method of close readings and a comparative approach in a framework of a theory of metaphors and with special regard to the spatial dimensions of love.

This dissertation project was successfully completed within the Research Group C-2 Space and metaphor in cognition, language, and texts of the Excellence Cluster 264 Topoi.