University of Colorado

Faculty Member, Medieval Studies

Professor Emerita

Arts and Sciences

Thesis Title: The Figure of the Pilgrim in Medieval Poetry

About

My curriculum vitae with full publication information is available at http://www.florin.ms/vita.html. I took early retirement from the University of Colorado at Boulder as Professor Emerita, returned to Europe. I now direct a library and a historic cemetery and work with Romanian Roma families in Florence, particularly the women, helping them with literacy and with acquiring, repairing and building their houses in Romania so they can climb out of poverty. In return they restore the the famous 'English' Cemetery where Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Walter Savage Landor, Arthur Hugh Clough, Isa Blagden, Frances Trollope, Hiram Powers, Theodore Parker, Richard Hildreth and many others who worked against slavery are buried. The Roma had been slaves of the monasteries from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Since retirement I have published many books, among them Jerusalem: Essays on Pilgrimage and Literature, Tales within Tales: Apuleius through Time, with AMS Press, Twice-Told Tales: Brunetto Latino and Dante Alighieri, and the third edition of my dissertation, now titled, The Pilgrim and the Book: A Study of Dante, Langland and Chaucer, with Peter Lang, as well as editions of Julian of Norwich with SISMEL, Elizabeth Barrett Browning with Penguin, based on manuscripts and first editions. I have given lectures and papers in many cities, including St Petersburg, Norwich Cathedral, Cornell University (this online as a video), Wellesley, Little Rock, Oxford, Cambridge, Basle, Rome, Modena, etc. Most recent: Lectura Dantis, 'La Vita Nuova: Paradigmi di Pellegrinaggio' Naples, 'Orientale' University, 7 May 2009. I have worked with graduate students writing thesis from Holland, Belgium, England and Italy. I direct a work/study literacy programme with Roma families from Romania while they restore Florence's 'English' Cemetery. They are creating booklets in four languages: Romany, Romanian, Italian and English. I am also recording Carlo Poli's readings of Dante's Commedia, broadcasting these on the Web, http://www.florin.ms.

Contact Information