OVERVIEW

The course (which consists of 54 hours of lectures, equivalent to 9 credits) allows students of different educational and cultural backgrounds to come in possession of the fundamental elements of general culture through the study of Italian literature

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at providing students with an exhaustive overviewing of the Italian literary tradition and its relations with foreign cultures; this outcome will be reached by analyzing exemplary texts, cultural contexts, forms, genres

LEARNING OUTCOMES (FURTHER INFO)

Acquisition of historiographical expertise in Italian literary history. Ability to analyse a literary text (narrative and poetic) through the tools of paraphrase and commentary (metrics - rhetorical figures - content). Enhancement of written and oral communication skills. Study of the relationships between Italian and European cultures

TEACHING METHODS

Traditional lessons (using computer and projector), textual commentary. Students are required to attend classes with the books that will be indicated for every lesson.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

For the written part of the exam:

1.            Divine Comedy and politics: Dante Alighieri, Divine comedy, Inferno VI, X, XXXIII; Purgatorio VI, XVI; Paradiso VI, XVII (20 hours).

2.            Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso, selected cantos following Astolfo: cc. I, VI, XV (octaves 15-105), XXII (octaves 4-30), XXIII (octaves 95-136), XXXIII (octaves 96-128), XXXIV, XXXV (octaves I-30). (15 hours)

3.            Study of 15 texts from 13th-17th century Italian literature (the texts will be made available in Aulaweb). Knowledge of Italian literary history of the same period.

For the oral part of the exam:

4.             Novel and poetry in 20th century Italian literature.

Students will have to read four novels (Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata; Italo Calvino, La speculazione edilizia e La giornata di uno scrutatore; Elsa Morante, L’isola di Arturo) and two poetry collections  (Giorgio Caproni, Il “terzo libro” e altre cose (entirely); Vittorio Sereni, Il grande amico. Poesie 1935-1981

5.             Study of 15 texts from 18th-20th century Italian literature (the texts will be made available in Aulaweb). Knowledge of Italian literary history of the same period.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Texts available in Aulaweb

- Dante, Divina Commedia (suggested editions: a cura di A.M. Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori, edizione recente; a cura di U. Bosco e G. Reggio, Milano, Le Monnier)

- Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso, a cura di E. Bigi, C. Zampesi, Milano, BUR, 2012 (selected cantos)

- Carlo Vecce, Piccola Storia della letteratura italiana, Napoli, Liguori, 2 voll, 2013 (only selected chapters that will be indicated in class)

- Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata, Torino, Einaudi, 2014

- Italo Calvino, La speculazione edilizia, La giornata di uno scrutatore, Milano, Mondadori, 2012 or other recent edition

- Elsa Morante, L’isola di Arturo, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 

- Giorgio Caproni, “Il terzo libro” e altre cose, prefazione di E. Testa, con un saggio di L. Surdich, Torino, Einaudi, 2016

- Vittorio Sereni, Il grande amico. Poesie 1935-1981, a cura di G. Lonardi e L. Lenzini, Milano, BUR, 2004

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MATTEO NAVONE (President)

EMANUELA CHICHIRICCO'

SIMONA MORANDO

STEFANO FERNANDO VERDINO

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written part (Dante; Ariosto; anthology of 13th-17th century texts): students will be asked to paraphrase some extracts and to answer to some essay questions.

Oral part (Novel and poetry in 20th century Italian literature; anthology of 18th-20th century texts).

Students must have passed the written part of the exam in order to access the oral part.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Written part: acquisition of text analysis skills; writing skills in Italian

Oral part: text analysis skills; knowledge of Italian cultural and literary history

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher and to register for the course in aulaweb