OVERVIEW

The course is part of the Basic Learning Activities for the Bachelor degree course in Modern Languages and Cultures, 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 major authors, most significant works, main poetics, and most relevant cultural movements in the history of Italian literature; it contributes to the acquisition of knowledge and skills useful for the professional outlets envisaged by the bachelor degree course in Modern Languages and Cultures, and in particular for: 

- access to teacher training

- cultural services (publishing, journalism, radio and television, Italian and foreign cultural institutes and foundations, book heritage preservation)

- cultural tourism

- organization of artistic and cultural events and exhibitions.

This page refers to section B of Italian Literature, which includes students whose surnames begin with the letters L through Z.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to illustrate (in a historical-critical perspective) a selection of significant works and authors of Italian literature, providing students with the essential conceptual and methodological tools to understand the poetic language and analyze a literary passage from a content and metric-stylistic perspective.

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

a) identify and define the most significant movements and poetics in the history of Italian literature

b) interpret, paraphrase, and analyse autonomously literary passages in poetry and prose, recognising their structural aspects (genre, metric form, rhetorical apparatus) and linking them to 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 in oral form the topics discussed in class with clarity and language properties.

PREREQUISITES

There are no specific requirements.

TEACHING METHODS

The course includes lectures with the aid of multimedia tools and materials. During the lectures there will be commented readings of literary excerpts and in-depth cultural studies aimed at contextualising the works examined: both the readings and the in-depth studies are to be understood as examples of work on the literary text, hopefully aimed at stimulating the reflections of the students, who will be invited to actively participate with interventions and questions. The teacher will also make available to students, in a special section of the AulaWeb e-learning portal, the slides used in the classroom and other study support materials.

A optional workshop on paraphrasing and the analysis of literary texts will be offered outside regular class hours during the months of March and April. The workshop is open to all students, but it is especially recommended for those who feel they may need additional academic support in these areas.

Lectures will be held in presence. Course attendance is not compulsory but warmly recommended. Students who, for justified reasons, expect not to be able to attend at least 50% of the lessons (i.e. at least 27 of the 54 hours of classroom teaching) are required to contact the teacher by e-mail at the beginning of the course to agree on an alternative examination programme. It is also recommended to attend the first lesson, during which the teaching programme and the exam rules will be presented.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The following syllabus is valid only for attending students. Non-attending students are required to contact the instructor by email (shortly before or during class) to arrange an alternative syllabus.

1. General Section

The general section focuses on the study of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the twentieth century. This overview will be limited to a selected number of topics and authors, which will be published on AulaWeb at the beginning of the course.

This general section will be only partially covered during lectures and will otherwise be entrusted to the student’s independent study.

2. Monographic Section

The monographic section includes the topics addressed during lectures and will focus on three main thematic units.

2.1 - Dante and Medieval Europe

In the first part of the course, selected readings from the Divine Comedy will be used to highlight its European dimension. Through a number of significant episodes, the course will explore Dante’s relationship with the major political institutions of his time (the Holy Roman Empire and the national monarchies) as well as with the Romance literary tradition. Particular attention will be devoted to the circulation of linguistic and poetic models within the cultural space of medieval Europe.

2.2 - Orlando Furioso and European literature

In the second part of the course, attention will be devoted to the European reception of the Italian chivalric poem between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, beginning with Boiardo and Ariosto. Through the reading of selected episodes from Matteo Maria Boiardo’s Inamoramento de Orlando and Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, the lectures will examine themes, narrative forms, and poetic models that enjoyed wide circulation in Renaissance and early modern European culture, with particular attention to the Spanish and English traditions.

2.3 - The “Economic Miracle” in Italian Culture of the 1960s

The expression Italian economic miracle (or economic boom) refers to the period between the 1950s and the 1960s, during which Italy, recovering from the material and moral devastation of the Second World War, experienced unprecedented economic growth as well as technological and industrial development. These processes also brought about far-reaching social transformations, which many intellectuals and artists active at the time sought to interpret and critique.
The third part of the course will examine some of these responses by analysing a selection of literary works – specifically La speculazione edilizia by Italo Calvino, La vita agra by Luciano Bianciardi, and some poems by other authors — as well as selected films that offered an immediate representation of this period of (apparent) prosperity, while exposing its contradictions and consequences.
The novels by Calvino and Bianciardi must be read in their entirety.

Course attendance is not compulsory but warmly recommended.

For further information, see the sections Recommended reading/bibliography, Teaching methods and Exam description.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Recommended reading/bibliography

 The following bibliography is valid only for attending students. Non-attending students are required to contact the instructor by email (shortly before or during class) to arrange an alternative bibliography.

General part

- Ugo Dotti, Storia della letteratura italiana, Roma, Carocci, 2020 (N.B.: students are required to study only the parts indicated by the instructor at the beginning of the course.)

Monographic part

- All materials used during the lectures and made available on AulaWeb

- Dante Alighieri, Inferno, a cura di Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or the edition by Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; or the edition by Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Rizzoli (only the passages read in class)

- Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso, commento di Emilio Bigi, a cura di Cristina Zampese, Milano, BUR-Rizzoli, 2012; or the edition by i Cesare Segre, Milano, Mondadori, 2022 (only the passages read in class)

- Unabridged reading (in any edition, also in eBook) of the following novels

• Italo Calvino, La speculazione edilizia
• Luciano Bianciardi, La vita agra

- Undici assaggi della “Vita agra”. Guida alla lettura del romanzo di Luciano Bianciardi, a cura di Riccardo Castellana e Michele Gandolfi, Milano-Udine, Mimesis edizioni, 2025 (recommended but not mandatory reading)

The list of texts is subject to change and it is therefore advisable to wait until the start of the lessons and the presentation of the programme before purchasing or borrowing. The bibliography of the monographic part may be supplemented with additional readings presented in class and made available on AulaWeb during the course.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Classes will presumably begin the week of February 15, 2027

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Students may choose between two alternative examination formats:

• First option: written and oral examination.
  In this case, two assessments are required: a written examination on the first section of the general and monographic syllabus (Dante), and an oral examination (which coincides with the final exam) on the second and third sections of the general and monographic syllabus (Alfieri / twentieth century).
  The written examination is a prerequisite for the oral examination and must therefore be taken beforehand. If the written examination is passed, the corresponding part of the syllabus will not be examined again during the oral examination; if it is not passed, that part will instead be included in the oral examination (please note: the written test can only be taken once).
• Second option: oral examination only.
  In this case, the entire syllabus (general and monographic sections) will be examined during the final oral examination, and no written examination is required.

The grade communicated at the end of the oral examination may be declined. In the event of an unsuccessful examination or a declined grade, students may retake the exam starting from the next available exam session. Further information regarding the examination procedures will be provided during lectures.

At least seven oral exam sessions and two written examinations are scheduled each academic year.

Registration for the written examinations will be carried out through the University’s online student services (https://servizionline.unige.it/studenti/esami/prenotazione), at least five days prior to the date of the exam session.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The optional written examination (see “Exam description”) consists of two open-ended questions, one of which includes the paraphrasing and analysis of a literary text.

The oral examination consists of an interview lasting approximately 30 minutes and is intended to assess students’ ability to:

• analyse a literary passage;
• contextualise the works studied from a historical and cultural perspective and describe their metrical and stylistic features;
• establish connections and comparisons between the topics covered;
• use clear, appropriate, and effective academic language;
• develop a personal and well-argued critical interpretation of the topics discussed.

Those students who demonstrate an organic vision of the topics addressed, combined with the ability to add personal contributions, to master the tools of literary analysis and the specific vocabulary, to use effective and appropriate exposition, will be given a mark of excellence.

Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a fair mark.

A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark.

Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the programme bibliography will not be given a pass mark.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Students who, for justified reasons, expect not to be able to attend at least 50% of the lessons (i.e. at least 27 of the 54 hours of classroom teaching) are required to contact the teacher by e-mail at the beginning of the course in order to agree on an alternative examination programme. It is also recommended to attend the first lesson, during which the teaching programme and the exam rules will be presented.

All students, whether attending or not, are kindly requested to enrol in AulaWeb 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.

For students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities, please note that, to request adaptations during the exam, it is necessary to first insert the certification on the University website on the servizionline.unige.it page in the "Students" section. The documentation will be verified by the University's Services Sector for the inclusion of students with disabilities and DSA.

Subsequently, significantly in advance (at least 7 days) of the exam date, it is necessary to send an e-mail to the instructor, including in copy both Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), the Department's disability liaison and the Sector indicated above (disabili@unige.it or dsa@unige.it). In the email you must specify:

- the name of the course

- the date of the appeal

- the student's surname, name and student number

- the compensatory tools and dispensatory measures deemed functional and required.

The Department's disability liaison will confirm to the instructor that the applicant has the right to request adaptations during the exam and that these adaptations must be agreed with the teacher, who will respond by communicating whether it is possible to use the requested adaptations.

Requests must be sent at least 10 days before the date of the exam to allow the teacher to evaluate their content. If you intend to use concept maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for the study), the sending must respect the expected times, otherwise there will not be the technical time necessary to make any changes.

For further information regarding the request for services and adaptations, consult this page.