OVERVIEW

The course is part of the Basic Learning Activities for the Degree Course of Modern Languages and Cultures, and bestows 9 ECTS, corresponding to 54 hours of classroom teaching and 171 hours reserved for personal study. It introduces the student to the study of major authors, most significant works, main poetics and most relevant cultural movements of Italian Literature history, from its origins to the 20th century.

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.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Knowledge and understanding: through lectures, guided analysis, and class discussions students will learn the most important methods in textual analysis of a literary text and to achieve the ability to understand critical texts.

Applying knowledge and understanding: through independent perusal of literary texts and translations, the student can apply the analytical skills previously achieved, to identify both structural aspects of the analyzed text and the relationship of the text and the cultural and historical context in which it was produced.

Making autonomous judgments: through an oral presentation student is able to understand, critically discuss and explain the specific literary characteristic of the text.

Communication skills: final oral discussion improve the skill in presenting analysis results in an efficient and synthetic way; they also allow students to communicate the concepts learned, with an appropriate language, and to hold a discussion on the topics taught in class.

Learning skills: to acquire basic skills in the history of Italian literature, useful for accessing the master degree classes in historical and literary fields.

PREREQUISITES

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

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures (with computer and projector). It is strongly recommended to attend classes with the books the teacher will indicate for every lesson. Students participation will be encouraged through questions and interventions. The course also provides students with learning tools (such as slides used during classes, supplementary or support materials) available in AulaWeb.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Syllabus for attending students

The syllabus is divided into two parts: the first is assessed through a written test, the second through an oral test (see also “Exam description”).

Syllabus for the written exam.

It is required the autonomous study of an anthology of texts, contained in a series of handouts that will be made available at the beginning of the course in AulaWeb, the e-learning portal of the University of Genoa. The texts – accompanied by short introductions and analysis cards – range from Dante to early 20th century literature. In addition to these handouts, students can deepen their study of the anthologized authors by using a textbook of Italian literature.

Syllabus for the oral exam.

The oral exam focuses on the topics covered in class. The teaching is divided into three sections:

1) «Luogo è in inferno detto Malebolge»: a reading of cantos XVIII-XXX in Dante’s Inferno.

2) Alessandro Manzoni between history and fiction. Selected readings from I promessi sposi and Storia della colonna infame.

3) «La guerra sulla carta». The representation of World War I in Italian novel and poetry of the first half of the 20th century.

Syllabus for non-attending students

The syllabus is divided into two parts: the first is assessed through a written test, the second through an oral test (see also “Exam description”).

Syllabus for the written exam.

It is required the autonomous study of an anthology of about twenty texts, contained in a series of handouts that will be made available at the beginning of the course in AulaWeb, the e-learning portal of the University of Genoa. The texts – accompanied by short introductions and analysis cards – range from Dante to early twentieth century literature. In addition to these handouts, students can deepen their study of the anthologized authors by using a textbook of Italian literature.

Syllabus for the oral exam.

For the oral test, it is required the study of the following literary works (pay attention to the annotated editions suggested in the bibliography section) and critical essays:

- Dante, Divina Commedia: Inferno, cantos V, X, XIX, XXVI; Purgatorio, cantos III, VI; Paradiso, cantos VI, XVII (paraphrase and comment)

- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, choice of 5 novellas from Sixth Day (with the study of a critical essay by Michelangelo Picone: see the bibliography)

- Niccolò Machiavelli, La Mandragola (unabridged)

- Giacomo Leopardi, L’Infinito (with an introduction and comment by Luigi Blasucci: see the bibliography)

- Giovanni Verga, I Malavoglia (unabridged)

- Eugenio Montale, Mottetti, from Le occasioni

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for attending students

Written exam

- handouts in AulaWeb

Oral exam

- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, edited by A.M. Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or edited by Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; or edited by Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Bompiani (only the passages read in class)

- Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi, edited by Francesco De Cristofaro, Milano, Rizzoli (Bur), 2014 (the Storia della colonna infame is also included in this edition; of both works, students must know only the passages read in class)

- Emilio Lussu, Un anno sull’altipiano, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (unabridged)

- possible supplementary readings proposed in class, that will be made available on AulaWeb during the course

Bibliography for non attending students

Written exam

- handouts in AulaWeb

Oral exam

- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, a cura di A.M. Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or a cura di Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; or a cura di Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Bompiani

- Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron, a cura di Amedeo Quondam, Maurizio Fiorilla e Giancarlo Alfano, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR), 2013

- Michelangelo Picone, Leggiadri motti e pronte risposte: la sesta giornata, in Introduzione al “Decameron”, a cura di Michelangelo Picone e Margherita Mesirca, Firenze, Franco Cesati Editore, 2004, pp. 163-186

- Niccolò Machiavelli, La Mandragola, introduzione e note di Gennaro Sasso, nota al testo e appendici di Giorgio Inglese, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR), 1997, or the edition annotated by Rinaldo Rinaldi, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR), 2010

- Luigi Blasucci, Per un progettato commento leopardiano: L’infinito, in «Nuova Rivista di Letteratura Italiana», XI, 1-2, 2008, pp. 183-195

- Giovanni Verga, I Malavoglia, testo critico e commento di Ferruccio Cecco, Torino, Einaudi, 2014

- Eugenio Montale, Mottetti, a cura di Dante Isella, Milano, Adelphi, 1988, or in E. Montale, Le occasioni, a cura di Tiziana de Rogatis, con un saggio di Luigi Blasucci e uno scritto di Vittorio Sereni, Milano, Mondadori (Oscar poesia del Novecento), 2011, pp. 85-156

NB: non-attending students are asked to contact the teachers before starting to study for the exam.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MATTEO NAVONE (President)

LUCA BELTRAMI

DUCCIO TONGIORGI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

18 February 2020

Class schedule

ITALIAN LITERATURE B

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of a written and an oral test.

The written test focuses on the texts in the handouts available for the students in AulaWeb.

The oral exam focuses on the program carried out during the lessons (sections 1, 2, 3).

It is necessary to take the written test to access the oral exam. Each exam session (winter, summer, autumn) includes one written exam session and two oral exam sessions; further dates may be added during the year at the discretion of the teacher, in accordance with the regulations of the department and with the needs of the other courses. The student can participate in the oral exam from the first session following the publication of the results of the written exam. It is not possible to attend written and oral exams on the same session. The final grade is given by comparing the results obtained in the two tests.

To take part in the written and oral tests, the student must register within two days before the exam date on the website https://servizionline.unige.it/studenti/esami/prenotazione. Further information about the exams will be provided during the lessons.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The written test includes some open-ended questions (with the request to paraphrase and comment on a literary text) to evaluate the skill of comprehension and analysis of a text in poetry or prose, the skill to write in a correct Italian language and the basic knowledge of the Italian literary history.

The oral exam consists of an interview on the topics discussed during the lessons, to evaluate the skills to contextualize a literary text in the frame of the Italian cultural history; to illustrate its metric-stylistic features; to make connections and comparisons among Italian and foreign literatures; to expose the contents with an appropriate language and to discuss the topics learned during the lessons.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Non-attending students, as well as attending ones, are requested to register for the course in AulaWeb.