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CODE 90621
ACADEMIC YEAR 2022/2023
CREDITS
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR L-FIL-LET/14
LANGUAGE Italian
TEACHING LOCATION
  • SAVONA
SEMESTER 2° Semester
TEACHING MATERIALS AULAWEB

OVERVIEW

«Narrative structures (…) implied the recognition and the need for a fundamental distinction between two levels of narrative representation and analysis: an apparent level, where the different manifestations are subjected to the specific needs of the linguistic substances through which the narration is expressed; and an immanent level, constitutive of a sort of common structural trunk, where narrativity is located and organized prior to its own manifestation. Whatever the language we chose for the narration, a common semiotic level is therefore given, distinct from the linguistic level and logically prior to it», A. J. Greimas

AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to analyse new forms of storytelling, from videogames to multimedia shows, from installations to narrative museums. The course compares narratological theories from Aristotle to Genette, questioning techniques, ideologies and methods of the narrative structures. The application of these theories to new media products allows us to offer essential interpretative tools for understanding the meanings and perspectives of multimedia technologies, and at the same time to rethink traditional artistic forms historically, critically and creatively. The first part of the course introduces the main concepts of narratology, through the study of Propp, Tomaševskij, Genette, Greimas’ classical theories. The second part of the course combines the analysis of narrative structures in different media, through close readings of literary, cinematographic and pictorial works, with a workshop-type activity, in which students will work on an multimodal interactive project, critically reflecting on the active dynamics involving the playing between different languages of narration.

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge for understanding a narrative in linguistic and / or visual form

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures (both in presence and synchronously online) and seminar workshops for the shared design of multimodal interactions.


 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1) Introduction to classical narratology:

a. narrator, reader, description, storytelling levels

b. order, rhythm, frequency, characters, space, focus, visual stories

c. events, actors, time

2) The multiplication of stories

The structural categories of narratological analysis will be used to understand paratextual and storytelling techniques to build the relationship between the stories of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in order to understand their potential for application to new contexts of interactive and multimodal narration.

3) Interactive multimedia storytelling project:

The students, sharing their different skills in a group, will present a storytelling project (linked to Chaucer's stories) connecting the narratological theories to new interactive and multimodal modalities.

As active participation in lessons and team projecting experiences are fundamental for the full achievement of the learning objectives,  students unable to attend should define with the teacher some bibliographical integrations.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Paolo Bertetti, Che cos'è la transmedialità, Carocci 2020

Stefano Calabrese, c., La bottega delle narrazioni. Letteratura, televisione, cinema, pubblicità, Carocci 2020

G. Ferraro, Teorie della narrazione. Dai racconti tradizionali allo storytelling, Carocci editore, 2018.

P. Montani, Tecnologie della sensibilià, Cortina 2014

G. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales [a critical edition]

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

NICOLA FERRARI (President)

GUALTIERO VOLPE

ANTONIO CAMURRI (President Substitute)

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The final exam will consist of

a) in the discussion of a written narratological analysis made using the categories addressed during the course and dedicated to a short story by Chaucer, chosen by the student / student, deepening its structural functions

b) in the discussion of the interactive and multimedia projects developed during the course.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam will evaluate

1. skills and ownership in the use of narratological categories

2. the ability to transfer narratological categories in a personal and original way in contexts of multimodal and interactive storytelling

Exam schedule

Data appello Orario Luogo Degree type Note
12/01/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale
26/01/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale
13/02/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale
14/06/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale
30/06/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale
14/07/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale
30/08/2023 09:00 SAVONA Orale

FURTHER INFORMATION

Non attending students could phone to agree his/her personal program:

39 345 4558112

Students with disabilities or learning disorders are allowed to use specific modalities and supports that will be determined on a case-by-case basis in agreement with the Delegate of the Engineering courses in the Committee for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities. Students are invited to contact the teacher of this course and copy the Delegate (https://unige.it/commissioni/comitatoperlinclusionedeglistudenticondisabilita.html).