La «morte per amore». Varianti narrative medievali alla luce dell’antichità.

The essay aims at setting a conceptual, literary and historical framework in order to better understand the multi-faceted theme of «love and death» («Liebestod») in the German courtly romance. Although the term bears strong connections with the early 19th century, and especially with Richard Wagner, evidence is provided of shades of meanings that originate in the Middle Ages. To this end, a series of paradigmatic examples selected from various Medieval verse romances are considered, and analysed in the light of the models provided by Antiquity.