OVERVIEW

The course is part of the Basic Learning Activities for the Bachelor’s course in “Teorie e tecniche della mediazione interlinguistica”, 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 the main authors, the most significant works, poetics and cultural movements of contemporary Italian literature.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course is intended to broaden students’ knowledge of contemporary Italian literature, to get them accustomed to doing critical reading and to be familiar with the phenomena of literary creativity in relation with publishing and cultural reviews.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with the conceptual and methodological tools essential to understand the main stages of the affirmation of literary modernity in Italy, particularly in relation to the 20th century. To this end, it is divided into a first introductory part (module 1) which summarizes the major events in the evolution of poetry and fiction between the second half of the 19th century and the end of the 20th century (also addressing some theoretical issues), and a second part (module 2) dedicated to the deepening of specific movements, works and authors.

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

a) recognize and explain the most important moments of contemporary Italian literature

b) paraphrase and interpret autonomously literary passages in poetry and prose, analysing their contents and structural aspects (genre, metric form, rhetorical apparatus) also on the basis of the historical-cultural contexts in which they were composed

c) make appropriate use of literary criticism terminology

d) compare passages from different periods and authors

e) explain and discuss orally the topics treated in class with clarity and language properties

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge (at high school level) of Italian literature and history from National Unity to the beginning of 2000.

TEACHING METHODS

The course will be held in remote mode through the Microsoft Teams platform (students must enrol in the team "Letteratura italiana contemporane (Navone) - Corso di Laurea in Teorie e Tecniche della Mediazione Interlinguistica, access code: ouodf7z).

The course includes frontal lessons with the help of multimedia tools and materials. During the lessons various examples of interpretation and textual analysis will be proposed, and the active participation of the students (with questions and interventions) will be encouraged. The teacher will also make available to students, in a special section of the AulaWeb e-learning portal, various didactic tools (slides used in the classroom, supplementary or study support materials).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Module 1

Fundamentals of contemporary Italian literature: authors, movements, poetics, metric-stylistic forms.

Module 2

a) The Italian novels of the Resistance movement (1945-1964)

b) The fourth Montale: readings from Satura and surroundings

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for attending students

Module 1

- Paolo Giovannetti, La letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea. Guida allo studio, Roma, Carocci, 2016, only chapters 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (the study of this manual is optional for attending students)

Module 2

- Full-length reading of three novels of your choice from the following books (all of which will be presented in class)::

• Elio Vittorini, Uomini e no, Milano, Mondadori, 2016 (or other edition)
• Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Milano, Mondadori, 2016 (or other edition)
• Cesare Pavese, La casa in collina, Torino, Einaudi, 2020 (or other edition)
• Renata Viganò, L’Agnese va a morire, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (or other edition)
• Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (or other edition)
• Luigi Meneghello, I piccoli maestri, Torino, Einaudi, 2013 (or other edition)

- Eugenio Montale, Satura, edited by Riccardo Castellana, Milano, Mondadori, 2018 (only poems read in class)

This bibliography will be complemented by additional readings presented in class and made available on AulaWeb during the course

Bibliography for non attending students

Module 1

- Paolo Giovannetti, La letteratura italiana moderna e contemporanea. Guida allo studio, Roma, Carocci, 2016, only chapters 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (the study of this manual is mandatory for non-attending students)

Module 2

- Alessandro Baldacci, Romanzi della Resistenza, in Il romanzo in Italia, vol. III, Il primo Novecento, a cura di Giancarlo Alfano e Francesco de Cristofaro, Roma, Carocci, 2018, pp. 349-360

- Full-length reading of four novels of your choice from the following books:

• Elio Vittorini, Uomini e no, Milano, Mondadori, 2016 (or other edition)
• Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Milano, Mondadori, 2016 (or other edition)
• Cesare Pavese, La casa in collina, Torino, Einaudi, 2020 (or other edition)
• Renata Viganò, L’Agnese va a morire, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (or other edition)
• Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (or other edition)
• Luigi Meneghello, I piccoli maestri, Torino, Einaudi, 2013 (or other edition)

- Enrico Testa, Il tempo della prosa e “Satura”, in Id., Montale, Milano, Mondadori Education, 2016, pp. 73-95

- Eugenio Montale, Satura, edited by Riccardo Castellana, Milano, Mondadori, 2018 (paraphrase and commentary of Botta e risposta I, La primavera sbuca col suo passo di talpa…, Ho sceso, dandoti il braccio, almeno un milione di scale…, L’alluvione ha sommerso il pack dei mobili…, Il raschino, La storia, A un gesuita moderno, Fanfara, Piove, Botta e risposta II, Le parole, Divinità in incognito, Sono venuto al mondo, Dopo una fuga, and 10 other texts of your choice)

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)

DUCCIO TONGIORGI

LUCA BELTRAMI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

5 October 2020 (1st semester)

16 February 2021 (2nd semester)

Class schedule

CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN LITERATURE

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of an oral test which aims to verify the student's knowledge of the topics and texts treated in class, as well as to assess the student's critical and interpretative skills.

To take part in the exam, students must register at least two days before the date of the exam at https://servizionline.unige.it/studenti/esami/prenotazione.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam consists of an oral interview on the topics dealt with in class, and aims to assess the ability to paraphrase and analyze a literary passage, to contextualize it from a cultural-historical point of view, to illustrate its metric-stylistic characteristics, to establish links and comparisons between the topics treated during the course, to use an appropriate and effective exposition.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

All students, whether attending or not, are kindly requested to enrol in AulaWeb in order to receive communications and notices regarding the course.

Erasmus students or non-native Italian speakers are kindly requested to contact the teacher to agree on the examination programme.