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

LEARNING OUTCOMES

- 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.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

- 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

This is one-year course (54 hours - 9 CFU) and is divided into three teaching modules:

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 Taḫlīṣ al-ibrīz ilà talḫīṣ Bārīz  (The extraction of Gold or an Overview of Paris) (1834) by Rifā‘a al-Tahṭāwī (d. 1873), al-Sāq ‘alà al-Sāq fī mā huwa al-Fāryāq (Leg over Leg Concerning “Faryāq) (1853/1855) by Fāris al-Šidyāq (m. 1887) e 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 such as: the relationship between the Arab world and the European colonial powers; the question of national, cultural and religious identity; the relationship between tradition and modernity; and the social and female emancipation. In the context of the historical and socio-literary framework of that period, particular emphasis will be given to the analysis of the first autobiographical narrative works.

The following works will be covered:  al-Ḥiğāb (The Veil), Fī l-qiṭār (By train), Ḥadīṯ al-qarya ((Village small talk), Zaynab, al-Ayyām (The Days), Adīb, Yawmiyyāt nā’ib fī l-aryāf ((Diary of a Country Prosecutor).

- Reading – in Italian and Arabic – and 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 shaped 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:

- Zuqāq al-Midaqq (Midaqq Alley 1947) by Naǧīb Maḥfūẓ (m. 2006);

• Al-Zaynī Barakāt (Zaynī Barakāt 1971) by Ğamāl al-Ġiṭānī (Egypt);

- al-Naddāha (The Caller 1969) by Yūsuf Idrīs (m. 1991);

- al-Lağna (The Committee 1981) by Ṣun‘allāh Ibrāhīm (1938).

N.B .: Each student must read at least two works of their choice (novels or anthologies of short stories or poems), translated from Arabic into Italian, and must be able to expose and analyse them in depth in the exam.

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.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The final oral exam will consists of a presentation and a discussion of the topics covered in the course. 

Exam schedule