OVERVIEW

The course is one of the core activities of the Arts course - Modern curriculum, and is composed of 54 hours of lectures (equivalent to 9 credits). It enables students to study the major authors and works as well as the most relevant poetics and cultural movements in the history of Italian literature from the 18th century onwards with a historical-critical method

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The general objective is to reinforce the core grounding of students and their ability to write correctly; other objectives are to learn the historiographical outlines of Italian literature; to gain knowledge of philological-textual elements that are introductory to the study of texts; to understand and analyse-comment literary texts with particular reference to genres

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to impart knowledge, competencies and skills vis-à-vis the study of Italian drama literature for both research development and training for school teaching. In particular, at the end of the course the student will be able to:

- demonstrate thorough knowledge of the historical development of Italian literature from the 18th century onwards, and show they have read and understood works and texts from major authors from the 18th century onwards.

- acquire skills for critical analysis, interpretation and contextualisation of literary texts on the basis of what was learned during the course.

- know how to clearly explain contents learned and textual analyses with appropriate critical language.

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge (upper high school level) of the history of Italian literature.

Literary text reading and paraphrasing skills as well as textual analysis skills.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures using multimedia tools and materials (students are urged to come to lectures with the texts indicated each time by the lecturer). During lectures students are encouraged to participate actively with questions and comments. The course gives students access to various teaching tools in a dedicated section of the e-learning portal AulaWeb (summaries of lectures, texts, additional material or study notes). A brief seminar will be held on contemporary poetry and a maximum of 15 students can volunteer to participate.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

General part:

The general part of the course refers to the history of Italian literature as well as the texts necessary to be a teacher of humanistic and literary disciplines according to Italian literature ministerial programmes.

The general part will be tackled in lectures with interpretive and summary outlines and will be further analysed by students.

For the general part a good knowledge of Italian literature from the 18th century onwards is required (an unabridged reading of a good secondary school textbook is sufficient) and 15 cantos from Purgatorio (among which I, II, III, V, VI, XI, XIX, XX, XXVI, XXVIII) as well as 15 cantos from Paradiso (among which I, III, VI, XI, XII, XV, XVI, XVII, XXVII, XXXIII) must be read.

In particular, it is necessary to thoroughly study the following historical-critical topics:

The new historiography, Arcadia, Illuminism, 18th century theatre, Neoclassicism, Early Romanticism, the historical novel, Scapigliatura, 19th century poetry, Verism, Decadentism and Symbolism, the Crepusculars, Futurists, the main 20th century reviews, 20th century poetry (fundamental turning points and outlines), 20th century novels (fundamental turning points and outlines). Poetry and narrative from the last twenty years (outlines).

Particular attention will be given to the following authors and students must be familiar with their biographical-literary profile and have read a suitable anthology of texts (see also reading list):  Giambattista Vico, Pietro Metastasio, Pietro Verri, Carlo Goldoni, Carlo Gozzi, Vittorio Alfieri, Giuseppe Parini, Vincenzo Monti, Ugo Foscolo, Alessandro Manzoni, Giacomo Leopardi, Ippolito Nievo, Giosuè Carducci, Edmondo De Amicis, Giovanni Verga, Giovanni Pascoli, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italo Svevo, Luigi Pirandello, Guido Gozzano, Aldo Palazzeschi, Dino Campana, Clemente Rebora, Camillo Sbarbaro, Umberto Saba, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Vittorio Sereni, Mario Luzi, Giorgio Caproni, Andrea Zanzotto, Cesare Pavese, Beppe Fenoglio, Italo Calvino, Primo Levi, Elsa Morante, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Leonardo Sciascia, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Edoardo Sanguineti.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

For the general part of the course, students can study on an up-to-date high school historical and literary anthology textbook (e.g. G. Ferroni, Storia della letteratura italiana, I-IV, Milano, Mondadori, 2012; C. Segre - C. Martignoni, Testi nella Storia. La letteratura italiana dalle origini al Novecento, Ed. Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori, Milano, 2006). The Divina Commedia can be studied using an up-to-date school edition (this edition is recommended: Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia. Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, edited by A.M. Chiavacci Leonardi, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2006; edited by U. Bosco and G. Reggio, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1993; edited by G. Inglese, Roma, Carocci, 2016).

For the monographic part:

Alfieri, Vita, edited by G. Cattaneo, Garzanti

Manzoni, I promessi sposi, edited by F. De Cristofaro ed. BUR

Caproni, Antologia personale, Garzanti

Viviani, La poesia è finita, il Melangolo

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

Class schedule

ITALIAN LITERATURE II

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is oral and is composed of two parts: a textual analysis and interview both for the general part and the monographic part.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For the textual analysis, students will be evaluated in relation to the following: text exegesis skills, ability to illustrate metric-stylistic characteristics, contextualise from a historical-cultural point of view, as well as interpret with a critical method and specialised language.

For the interview, students will be evaluated in relation to the following: the degree to which they have studied and acquired historical-critical knowledge of Italian literature from the 18th century onwards as well as their knowledge of texts and authors examined in the monographic part. Moreover, they will also be evaluated in relation to their knowledge of literary phenomena and their presentation abilities and use of clear, articulate language aimed at supporting and documenting an argument.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who cannot attend the course are advised to register for the course on AulaWeb