OVERVIEW

Allegorical personification: literary strategy and visual references of a rhetorical figure

The allegorical personification represents an extraordinary meeting point between literature and visual arts, while ancient rhetoric represents the first attempt to theoretically define the nature and field of action of this figure. The course therefore intends to offer the necessary tools for the analysis of a form of enormous pervasiveness both in the literary tradition and in the visual arts.

AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student must have acquired the methodologies and tools to deal directly, on a specialized level, the interpretation and analysis of Latin texts, on the linguistic, stylistic-rhetorical, thematic and historical-literary level, with particular attention to the parallels and intersections between literature and visual arts.

PREREQUISITES

A solid knowledge of the Latin language is required and, from the students who have not taken the test in the three-year degree, it is required to pass a Preliminary written Translation Test from Latin (information on this should be requested from Prof. Lara Nicolini, who takes care of the test).

Please note that to facilitate the preparation of solid grammatical bases and for the preparation of the Preliminary written Translation Test, first and second semester Latin lessons for beginners, intermediate Latin lessons and advanced Latin lessons, open to all students, are activated (see more details in the field FURTHER INFORMATION).

All students on the course are required to enroll in Aulaweb.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures, seminar discussion based on papers produced by the students

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Allegorical personification: literary strategy and visual references of a rhetorical figure

The allegorical personification represents an extraordinary meeting point between literature and visual arts, both fields in which the figure finds powerful forms of realization; the ancient rhetoric also represents the first attempt to define theoretically and to analyze through concrete examples the nature and field of action of this figure. The course aims to offer both the students interested in the literary tradition and those interested in the artistic tradition the necessary tools for the analysis of a form - that of personification - of enormous pervasiveness in both traditions.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) Catullus, poems 36 and 42; Horace, Epistles 1, 20; Virgil, Aeneid 4, vv. 173-197; 6, vv. 268-281; Ovid, Amores 3, 1; Ovid, Tristia 1, 1; 3, 1; Stazio, Silvae 4, 4; Silius Italicus, Punica 15, vv. 18-128; Prudentius, Psychomachy, vv. 1-177; Martianus Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii 3, 223-229 (an anthology of these texts will be uploaded to Aulaweb during the course)

2) Non-attending students will integrate the program with bibliographic material uploaded on Aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

FRANCO MONTANARI (President)

GABRIELLA MORETTI (President)

LARA NICOLINI

LARA PAGANI

SERENA PERRONE

BIAGIO SANTORELLI

DILETTA VIGNOLA

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Monday 17 February 2020

Class schedule

LATIN LITERATURE MODULE 2

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam will first examine the student's competences regarding the Latin language, and will focus in particular on the ascertainment of stylistic, rhetorical and interpretative skills through the translation and exegesis of the Latin texts in the program. Part of the evaluation will also be based on possible seminar work exposed by the students during the course.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Oral exam possibly preceded by a seminar work presented orally and delivered in written form to the teacher during the course.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance is strongly recommended: an active class attendance, with preparation of the pieces from time to time addressed, will be evaluated during the exam.

Those who for serious reasons could not attend should contact the teacher within the first month of the course.

For students with linguistic problems, the following will be activated:

1) a cycle of 60-hour exercises, for absolute beginners, held in the first semester (organized by the "Beni Culturali" Course, but also open and strongly recommended to students of all Degree Courses), to be integrated with the help of tutors for practical exercises and their correction.

2) a cycle of exercises at an intermediate level of 36 hours, held in the second semester, to be integrated with the help of tutors for practical exercises and their correction.

3) a 30-hour Translation Laboratory held in the first semester by prof. Biagio Santorelli, obligatory for classicists who had not passed the admission test consisting of a version from Latin (but VERY WELL RECOMMENDED to ALL classicists), and also open to all interested modernists, in particular to pass the propaedeutic Test of Translation from Latin.