OVERVIEW

The Arabic Literature II course aims to address some of the main topics of modern and contemporary Arabic literature: the period of the nahḍa, the continuity of some traditional literary genres as well as the emergence and affirmation of others, such as the novel and the story. The course will focus on literary movements and genres, notable exponents and significant works of twentieth-century Egyptian literature.

AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

- The course will cover the historical and socio-cultural context in Egypt and the Arab world until the 60s and 70s.

- It intends to provide an overview of the main narrative trends in those years in relation to the political and socio-cultural evolution, analyse the most representative and relevant themes, authors and works of that period, as well as identify their specificity in the modern and contemporary Arabic literary context.

- The course offers students methodological knowledge and critical ideas that enable the understanding of other phenomena, authors and works from the same period. The analysis of the works involves reading and commenting on several selected passages, both in Italian and in Arabic.

- Provide analytical and interpretation skills for the works covered.

- Stimulate students to reflect on some socio-literary, political and linguistic issues relating to the modernity-tradition debate and to the topic of diglossia.
- To broaden the knowledge of lexis, phraseology and syntactic structures of Standard Arabic through the reading and the analysis of some passages.

TEACHING METHODS

Due to the extension of the health emergency, the lectures of the first semester will be delivered remotely using Microsoft Teams, supported by auxiliary texts and photocopies. Unless otherwise indicated, the lessons of the second semester will be held in class.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Module I

- Introduction to the historical, cultural and literary context of the nahḍa period. Particular attention will be paid to the literary elements of continuity and rupture with the classical and pre-modern periods.

- Reading in Arabic and analysis of some passages taken from Ḥadīṯ ‘Īsà ibn Hišām aw-fatrah min al zaman (What ‘Isa ibn Hisham Told Us, or a Period of Time) by Muḥammad al Muwayliḥī.

Module II

- We will cover the historical-literary context of the Arab world at the beginning of the twentieth century, the birth and the evolution of the novel and the short story, particularly in Egypt, focusing on the most relevant themes and works, such as Fī l-qiṭār (By train), al-Šayḫ Ğum'a, Ḥadīṯ al-qarya (Village small talk), Zaynab, Yawmiyyāt nā'ib fī l-aryāf (Diary of a Country Prosecutor), Bayna al-qaṣrayn (the Trilogy of Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ : Palace walk).

- Reading in Italian and in Arabic as well as analysis of some texts from this period.

Module III

- The module deals with the evolution of the novel in Egypt and in other Arab countries in relation to the crucial events that have made the contemporary history of the Arab world and in particular the process of decolonisation, the Arab Israeli conflict and the crisis of the post-colonial regime in Egypt.

- The following works will be covered:

• Riǧāl fī l-šams (Men in the sun - 1963) by Ġassān Kanafānī (Palestine);

• Mawsim al-hiğrah ilà al-šamāl (Season of Migration  to the North - 1967) by al-Ṭayyib Ṣāliḥ (Sudan);

• Al-Zaynī Barakāt (Zaynī Barakāt. History of the grand censor of the city of Cairo - 1971) by Ğamāl al-Ġiṭānī (Egypt);

• al-Karnak (Karnak Café - 1971-74) by Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ (Egypt).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Isabella Camera d’Aflitto, Letteratura araba contemporanea, Carocci, Roma, 2007;
• Isabella Camera d’Aflitto, Scrittori arabi del Novecento, Bompiani, Milano, 2002;
• Toelle H., Zakaria K., Alla scoperta della letteratura araba. Dal vi secolo ai nostri giorni. Argo, Lecce, 2010 (La parte sulla letteratura moderna e contemporanea);
• Avino M, Camera d’Afflitto I, Salem A. (a cura di), Antologia della letteratura araba contemporanea, Carocci, Roma, 2015.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The lessons of the first semester will begin on ........ according to the following schedule:

Class schedule

ARABIC LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Students will have to prove their acquaintance with the course contents, including all the texts examined during the course.

Exam schedule