We would like to inform of the publication, in the "Collana del dipartimento di Scienze della Letteratura e dell'Arte medioevale e moderna dell'Università degli Studi di Pavia", of the volume Il testo assonanzato franco-italiano della Chanson de Roland: cod. Marciano fr. IV (=224) edizione interpretativa e glossario a cura di Carlo Beretta, Pavia, Università degli Studi di Pavia, 1995. The edition, which is defined by its title and interpretative (not critical) introduction, intends to "give as faithful as possible an image of the diasystem constituted by the text of V4 alone, therefore respecting all the characteristics that probably derive from the superimposition of the systems that generated it" (pp. XXI). The introductory pages thus concentrate on the data relative to the manuscript in question, tackling the problems of linguistics, dating and history, indicating previous editions and dwelling upon the text proposed by this codex. However, the whole problem of the textual criticism of the Chanson is not ignored, as proved by the sections of the "Bibliography" (pp. XLI-LXIII) devoted to witnesses and critical reconstructions of the poem (pp. XLI-XLIII). The volume is completed by an accurate "Glossary" (pp.383-651) and "Index of names" ("Proper nouns of people, animals or things", pp.657-678 and "Place names", pp.679-692), both deriving from an accurate linguistic analysis which is particularly attentive to the studies of Holtus 1.

1 In particular Holtus G., Lexikalische Untersuchungen zur Interferenz. Die franko-italienische "Entrée d'Espagne", Tübingen, M. Niemeyer, 1979.

Teresa Nocita