The module (Basic Learning Activities - Degree Course of Modern Languages and Cultures – Lectures: 54 hours, 9 ECTS) introduces the student to the study of major authors, significant works, main poetics of Italian Literature history.
The course aims to provide a picture of the Italian literary tradition from its origins onwards using exemplary texts, with reference to the different styles and genres, to the analysis of texts and cultural contexts, and to relations with foreign cultures.
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 related to the literary work considered.
Applying knowledge and understanding: Through independent perusal of literary texts and translations, the student is able to apply the analytical skills previously achieved, so 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 dealt with in class.
Learning skills: Activities described allow students to acquire the methodological tools necessary to continue their studies.
Basic knowledge (at high school level) of the history of Italian literature.
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 for attending students
Written exam
For the written test, 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 20th century literature. In addition to these handouts, students can deepen their study of the anthologized authors by using a textbook of Italian literature.
Oral exam
The oral test will focus on the topics taught in class. The course will be divided into three parts:
Part 1: Dante: Florence, Italy and Empire in Divina Commedia (selected passages)
Part 2: Machiavelli, Il Principe (selected passages)
Part 3: Anti-fascism, "Resistenza", Post-war period in the Einaudi novels: Cesare Pavese, La casa in collina; Carlo Levi, L’Orologio; Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare (full reading of the three novels)
Syllabus for non-attending students
For the written test, 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.
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
- 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 (full reading)
- Giacomo Leopardi, L’Infinito (with an introduction and comment by Luigi Blasucci: see the bibliography)
- Giovanni Verga, I Malavoglia (full reading)
- Eugenio Montale, Mottetti, from Le occasioni
Bibliography for attending students
For the written exam:
- handouts in AulaWeb
For the oral exam:
- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, edited by Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or the book edited by Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; or the book edited by Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Bompiani (passages suggested during the lessons)
- Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe, edited by Giorgio Inglese (passages suggested during the lessons)
- Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (full reading)
- Carlo Levi, L’Orologio, Torino, Einaudi, 2015 (full reading)
- Cesare Pavese, La casa in collina, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (full reading)
- further texts will be available on AulaWeb.
Bibliography for non-attending students
- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, a cura di Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or the book edited by Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; or the book edited 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 book edited 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 (full reading)
- 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
Ricevimento: Wednesday, 10-12, via Balbi 2, Dipartimento di Italianistica (Diraas), IV floor; or writing at this e-mail address: luca.beltrami@unige.it
LUCA BELTRAMI (President)
MATTEO NAVONE
DUCCIO TONGIORGI
18 February 2020
ITALIAN LITERATURE C
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 (parts 1, 2, 3).
It is necessary to take the written test in order 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.
The written test includes some open-ended questions (with the request to paraphrase and comment on a literary text) in order 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, in order 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.
Non-attending students, as well as the attending ones, are requested to register for the course in AulaWeb.
