La Stultifera Navis di Jakob Locher (1497): Edizione critica, traduzione, saggio di commento

The aim of this dissertation is to produce a new reference edition of the Stultifera Navis, a Neo-Latin poem written by Jakob Locher (1471-1528). The poem is primarily known as the translation of the Narrenschiff (Basel 1494, «The Ship of Fools») by Sebastian Brant (1457-1521). By introducing motifs from Classical Latin satire, Locher masterfully blends wit and moral indignation to draw all the work’s diverse characters into a composite picture of folly, both visually and rhetorically. In my dissertation I focus on the philological and literary analytical aspects of the Stultifera Navis to highlight the depth and complexity of its intertextual relationship with Brant’s Narrenschiff as well as with Classical Latin literature. Building on this comparative approach, I investigate Locher’s literary persona, argumentative techniques, and rhetorical devices as featured both in the Stultifera Navis itself and in the paratextual elements completing its printed editions such as rubrics, marginalia, and engravings. The resulting dissertation provides insight into Locher’s authorial intentions and opens avenues to further study the influence of the Stultifera Navis and its use of references from Classical antiquity on the lively communities of German and the larger European humanism movement.