Ariosto and Arabic: notes on an unaccomplished contiguity—A prologue

This article, the result of original research in the field of Mediterranean culture during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, provides a prologue to the volume Ariosto and the Arabs: Contexts for the Orlando Furioso, which presents the results of a long project, which entailed a seminar and then a conference at Villa I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. In particular, the article explores all possible levels of contiguity of Ludovico Ariosto’ masterpiece, Orlando furioso, with the Arabic language, through different time frames (anteriority, contemporaneity, posteriority) that also imply different modes of intersection and relation (particularly absorption, awareness, and reception).