OVERVIEW

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.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of this University Course is to give an idea of Italian literary tradition, from its origins to the actual days, with a particular eye to the different cultural typologies, interpretation of texts and contexts (musical, artistic, historical), and principally to the relationship with other foreign cultural systems.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with knowledge and skills related to the study of Italian Literature.

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.

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

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:

- 1. Percorsi nelle Malebolge (Dante, Inf., XVIII-XXX)

- 2. Machiavelli, La mandragola

- 3. Raccontare la guerra. Eserciti, conflitti, propaganda bellica e denuncia pacifista nella letteratura italiana dalla Scapigliatura alla prima Guerra Mondiale

Syllabus for non-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 twentieth 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

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

- 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

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for attending students

For the written exam:

- handouts in AulaWeb

For the oral exam:

- 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 by Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Bompiani (passages suggested during the lessons)

- N. Machiavelli, La mandragola

- L. Pirandello, Berecche e la guerra (IDEM, Novelle per un anno, a cura di Mario Costanzo, Premessa di Giovanni Macchia, vol. III, Mondadori.

- E. Lussu, Un anno sull’altipiano, Torino, Einaudi.

- further texts will be available on AulaWeb.

Bibliography for non-attending students

For the written exam:

- handouts in AulaWeb

For the oral exam:

- 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

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

DUCCIO TONGIORGI (President)

LUCA BELTRAMI

MATTEO NAVONE

LESSONS

LESSONS START

settember 2019

Class schedule

ITALIAN LITERATURE A

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 (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.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

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.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

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