OVERVIEW

The course intends to start an in-depth analysis at university level of history, themes and texts of Latin literature, and is useful for the acquisition of 24 credits for access to teaching.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Latin literature course (I year) aims to give students a good knowledge of the history of Latin literature from the archaic period to the 5th century AD by directly reading texts; knowledge of the themes of Latin literature and the fundamental range of literary genres with their formal characteristics and content together with the capacity to move between genres applying suitable interpretation techniques; the capacity to identify the elements of continuity and innovation in this literature with respect to the great Greek experience that preceded it; the capacity to analyse texts in the language proposed during the course and, in general, any text in Latin.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Latin literature course (I year) has the following objectives:

• to give students a good knowledge of the history of Latin literature in its diachronic evolution from the archaic period to the 5th century AD by directly reading texts;
• to give students knowledge of the themes of Latin literature and the fundamental range of literary genres with their formal characteristics and content; capacity to move between genres applying suitable interpretation techniques;
• to give students knowledge and understanding of the evolution of the Latin language over about eight centuries of history (with particular attention to the awareness of various registers and levels of the language, the selection of which is tied naturally to the literary genre);
• to give students the capacity to identify elements of continuity and innovation in this literature with respect to the great Greek experience that preceded it;
• to give students understanding of and capacity to analyse the texts proposed during the course and, in general, any text in Latin;
• mastery of Latin reading and consequently excellent knowledge of prosody and metrics.

To this end a large selection of texts in Latin will be commented. Various other texts will be added which must be read by students. A part of the course will be devoted to the fundamental notions of prosody and metric (hexameter and pentameter) and to practical exercises of metric reading.

The course is useful for the acquisition of 24 credits for access to teaching.

PREREQUISITES

A solid knowledge of the Latin language is required and, for those students who have not already taken the test in the Access test, as is the case for classicists, it is required to pass a Preliminary written Translation Test from the Latin (information on this should be requested to Prof. Lara Nicolini, who is in charge 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).

TEACHING METHODS

The course will alternate between lectures, seminar lessons and practical metric reading exercises.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The multiform universe of the novel: the books VIII and IX of  Apuleius' Metamorphoses 

Compared to the first three books, mainly focused on stories of magic, and to books IV-VI, at the center of which is the bella fabella of Eros e Psyche, the VIII and IX books of Apuleiius' Metamorphoses are constructed through a plurality of narrative materials extremely different from each other. This apparent lack of homogeneity is opposed by the strategies that Apuleius implements in the construction of his story, making a narrative block flow smoothly to the next, an andd linking the whole through a very personal and rhetorically virtuosic language. During the course the analytical reading of the text will lead us to trace where possible the origins and types of narrative material used, to identify Apuleian strategies in the architectural construction of the story, and to analyze the glittering and mannerist language that perhaps more than any other element unifies the novel, giving it the unmistakable stylistic seal of its author.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

9 credit program:

Monographic course:

1) Apuleio, Metamorfosi, libri VIII e IX: ( l'edizione BUR a cura di Lara Nicolini, Milano, Rizzoli, 2005).

Non-attending students will replace books VIII and IX with the reading of books I and II of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius in the edition of the Lorenzo Valla series, curated by Luca Graverini and Lara Nicolini, Mondadori 2019 (we recommend reading the Introduction and of the commentary on the first two books).

Supplementary texts (individual preparation by the students):

2) Virgilio, Eneide, libro II (ed. con Introduzione, traduzione e commento a cura di Sergio Casali, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2017).

3) Quintiliano, Institutio oratoria, libro VI (Marco Fabio Quintiliano, La formazione dell'oratore, vol. II (libri 5-8), BUR Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli)

4)  History of Latin Literature Program: from the origins to the Vth century AD

It is recommended a good literary history manual for the Liceo classico, and in particular G.B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura Latina, Le Monnier, Firenze 2019 (or, especially for those who had not already studied in high school the history of Latin literature, it is recommended the literary history with an anthology of texts Storia e testi della Letteratura Latina, edited by G. B. Conte and E. Pianezzola, ed. Le Monnier) .

6) For an indispensable development of knowledge in the field of grammar, syntax and metric, it is recommended to use:

A. Traina, G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino Universitario, Bologna, Pàtron 1988.

6 credit program:

Monographic course:

1) Apuleio, Metamorfosi, libri VIII e IX: ( l'edizione BUR a cura di Lara Nicolini, Milano, Rizzoli, 2005).

Non-attending students will replace books VIII and IX with the reading of books I and II of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius in the edition of the Lorenzo Valla series, curated by Luca Graverini and Lara Nicolini, Mondadori 2019 (we recommend reading the Introduction and of the commentary on the first two books).

Supplementary texts (individual preparation by the students):

2) Virgilio, Eneide, libro II (ed. con Introduzione, traduzione e commento a cura di Sergio Casali, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2017).

3)  History of Latin Literature Program: from the origins to the Vth century AD

It is recommended a good literary history manual for the Liceo classico, and in particular G.B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura Latina, Le Monnier, Firenze 2019 (or, especially for those who had not already studied in high school the history of Latin literature, it is recommended the literary history with an anthology of texts Storia e testi della Letteratura Latina, edited by G. B. Conte and E. Pianezzola, ed. Le Monnier) .

3 credit program:

Monographic course:

1) Apuleio, Metamorfosi, libri VIII e IX: ( l'edizione BUR a cura di Lara Nicolini, Milano, Rizzoli, 2005).

Non-attending students will replace books VIII and IX with the reading of books I and II of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius in the edition of the Lorenzo Valla series, curated by Luca Graverini and Lara Nicolini, Mondadori 2019 (we recommend reading the Introduction and of the commentary on the first two books).

2) History of Latin Literature Program: from the origins to the Vth century AD

It is recommended a good literary history manual for the Liceo classico, and in particular G.B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura Latina, Le Monnier, Firenze 2019 (or, especially for those who had not already studied in high school the history of Latin literature, it is recommended the literary history with an anthology of texts Storia e testi della Letteratura Latina, edited by G. B. Conte and E. Pianezzola, ed. Le Monnier).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GABRIELLA MORETTI (President)

BIAGIO SANTORELLI

LARA NICOLINI (Substitute)

DILETTA VIGNOLA (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Tuesday 17th September 2019

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of an oral test.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam consists of an oral test: various questions on the different phases of the history of Latin Literature will be followed by an interview on the monographic course. The candidate will also be required to read and translate some passages from the texts in the program and to demonstrate mastery in the grammatical, linguistic and stylistic analysis of the passages in question.

Note: During the course an active class attendance will contribute to the evaluation.

In order to allow an easier preparation and an in-depth study of the texts, the exam, if the student wishes, can be divided into two parts:

- 9 credit exam:

FIRST PART: points 1 (monographic course), 4 (Literary History) and 5 (Propaedeutic to University Latin );

SECOND PART: points 2 and 3 (complementary texts).

- 6 credit exam:

FIRST PART: points 1 (monographic course) and 3 (Literary History);

SECOND PART: point 2 (complementary text).

- 3 credit exam:

FIRST PART: point 2 (Literary History)

SECOND PART: point 1 (Monographic course)

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance is strongly recommended: an active class attendance, with preparation of the passages 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, compulsory 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.

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