OVERVIEW

The teaching is one of the basic training activities of the bachelor degree in Cultural Heritage, it gives 12 ECTS and introduces to the study of the main authors, the most significant works, the most relevant poetics and cultural movements in the history of Italian literature from the origins to the 20th century with a focus on the relationships between literature and arts.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Italian Literature teaching aims to give adequate knowledge about Italian literary history through selected texts. Students will also gain a good ability, both oral and written, about the reading, understanding, interpreting and recognizing historical-cultural framework of Italian literary texts. The teaching also aims to introduce connections between arts and literature during the centuries.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching aims to illustrate (in a critical-historical perspective) a selection of significant works and authors of Italian literature, providing students with the methodological tools to understand the poetic language and to analyze a literary text and its metric-stylistic elements.

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

a) recognize and present the most important moments of the Italian literary tradition

b) interpret, paraphrase and analyse literary texts 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) to present and discuss the topics dealt with in written and oral form with clarity and language properties

The expected learning outcomes refer to the works and authors indicated in the 6, 9 or 12 ECTS programme respectively. The 12 ECTS syllabus also provides for special in-depth studies on specific topics, in relation to which students are expected to show a more detailed level of knowledge and deeper critical awareness.

PREREQUISITES

Basic knowledge (at high school level) of the history of Italian literature.

TEACHING METHODS

Classes are held in presence. Attendance, although not mandatory, is recommended. Only students who attend the lectures in person are considered to be attending. The lecturer, at the specific request of each student, allows distance learning via the Teams platform. The course will include additional teaching tools (slides, audio PowerPoint, study support tools) that will be made available on a special section of the AulaWeb e-learning portal. During the lectures, questions and remarks by the students will be solicited.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Syllabus for attending students (12 ECTS)

Part 1: the lessons will focus on the relationships between literature and arts through the analysis of main works of Italian literature. Particularly, the theme of 'literary portraits' will be analysed as follows:

a) Poets and Man of Letters in Dante’s Divina Commedia

b) Female Portraits in Poetry from Petrarca to 16th Century

c) The Portrait of Power in Machiavelli's Principe

d) Leopardian Masks in the Operette morali

Part 2: selection of authors and texts of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 20th century (the list of topics, authors and texts to be studied will be made available on AulaWeb at the beginning of the course). This section of the programme will be largely entrusted to the self-study of the student.

Syllabus for attending students (9 ECTS)

Part 1: the lessons will focus on the relationships between literature and arts through the analysis of main works of Italian literature. Particularly, the theme of 'literary portraits' will be analysed as follows:

a) Poets and Man of Letters in Dante’s Divina Commedia

b) Female Portraits in Poetry from Petrarca to 16th Century

c) The Portrait of Power in Machiavelli's Principe

Part 2: selection of authors and texts of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 20th century (the list of topics, authors and texts to be studied will be made available on AulaWeb at the beginning of the course). This section of the programme will be largely entrusted to the self-study of the student.

Syllabus for attending students (6 ECTS)

Part 1: the lessons will focus on the relationships between literature and arts through the analysis of main works of Italian literature. Particularly, the theme of 'literary portraits' will be analysed as follows:

a) Poets and Man of Letters in Dante’s Divina Commedia

b) Female Portraits in Poetry from Petrarca to 16th Century

Part 2: selection of authors and texts of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 20th century (the list of topics, authors and texts to be studied will be made available on AulaWeb at the beginning of the course). This section of the programme will be largely entrusted to the self-study of the student.

Erasmus students may agree with the teacher on variations to the syllabus.

Syllabus for NON attending students 

Part 1 – texts

- Dante, Divina Commedia, full reading and comment of: Inferno, I, V, VI, X, XIII, XIX, XXVI, XXXIII; Purgatorio, III, VI, XVI; XXX; Paradiso, VI, XVII, XXXIII

- Petrarca, Canzoniere: I - Voi ch’ascoltate in rime sparse il suono; XVI - Movesi il vecchierel canuto et biancho; XXXV - Solo et pensoso i più deserti campi; LXXVII - Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso; LXXVIII - Quando giunse a Simon l’alto concetto; XC - Erano i capei d’oro a l’aura sparsi; CXXVI - Chiare, fresche et dolci acque; CXXXVI - Fiamma dal ciel; CCLXXII - La vita fugge, et non s’arresta una hora

- Machiavelli, Il Principe (capp. I, III, VII, XV, XVIII, XXV, XXVI) e La Mandragola (full reading)

- Leopardi, Canti (All’Italia, Alla luna, L’infinito, Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell’Asia, Aspasia, La ginestra); Operette morali (Dialogo di Federico Ruysch e delle sue mummie, Dialogo della Natura e di un Islandese, Dialogo di Plotino e di Porfirio, Dialogo di Tristano e di un amico)

- Pavese, La casa in collina (full reading)

Part 1 - scholar studies

- Giuseppe Leda, Leggere la Commedia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2021 (capp. I-VII)

- Giorgio Bertone, Il volto di Dio, il volto di Laura. La questione del ritratto. Petrarca, Rvf. XVI, LXXVII, LXXVIII, Genova, il Nuovo Melangolo, 2008

- Riccardo Bruscagli, Machiavelli, Bologna, il Mulino (capp. 1-2, 4-5 e 8-9)

- Marco Bazzocchi, Leopardi, Bologna, il Mulino

Part 2

Selection of authors and texts of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 20th century (the list of topics, authors and texts to be studied will be made available on AulaWeb at the beginning of the course). This section of the programme will be largely entrusted to the self-study of the student.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for attending students

Part 1

- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, ed. by Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or ed. by Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; or ed. by Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Bompiani, or ed. by Stefano Carrai, Giuseppe Conte, Fabio Pusterla, Milano, Giunti-Barbera (selected passages)

- Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere, ed by Marco Santagata, Milano, Mondadori, 2018 (selected passages)

- Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe, ed. by Giorgio Inglese, Torino, Einaudi, 2014 (selected passages)

- Giacomo Leopardi, Operette morali, ed. by Laura Melosi, Milano, Rizzoli Bur, 2008 (selected passages)

Part 2

It is recommended to use an anthological manual for high schools for the selection of authors and texts of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 20th century: e.g. Giulio Ferroni, Andrea Cortellessa, Italo Pantani, Silvia Tatti, Storia e testi della letteratura italiana, Milano, Mondadori; or Romano Luperini, Pietro Cataldi, Lidia Marchiani, Franco Marchese, Le parole le cose, Palermo, Palumbo; or Cesare Segre, Clelia Martignoni, Testi nella storia, Milano, Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori, or Leggere il mondo: letteratura, testi, culture, Milano, Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori; or Guido Baldi, Silvia Giusso, Mario Ranzetti, Giuseppe Zaccaria, Le occasioni della letteratura, Milano-Torino, Pearson Italia-Paravia; or Giancarlo Alfano, Paola Italia, Emilio Russo, Franco Tomasi, Letteratura italiana, Milano, Mondadori (this anthology, however, does not include the 20th century); or others.

The list could be subject to change and it is recommended to wait for the start of the lessons and the presentation of the syllabus by the teacher before purchasing or borrowing.

Bibliography for NON-attending students

Part 1 – texts

- Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, ed. by Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, Milano, Mondadori; or ed. by Giorgio Inglese, Roma, Carocci; ed. by Bianca Garavelli, Milano, Bompiani; or ed. by Stefano Carrai, Giuseppe Conte, Fabio Pusterla, Milano, Giunti-Barbera

- Francesco Petrarca, Canzoniere, ed by Marco Santagata, Milano, Mondadori, 2018

- Niccolò Machiavelli, Il Principe, ed. by Giorgio Inglese, Torino, Einaudi, 2014; La Mandragola, ed. by Rinaldo Rinaldi, Milano, Rizzoli Bur 2010; or ed. by Pasquale Stoppelli, Milano, Mondadori, 2016.

- Giacomo Leopardi, Canti, ed. by Franco Gavazzeni e Maria Maddalena Lombardi, Milano, Rizzoli Bur, 2016, or ed. by Luigi Blasucci, 2 vols., Parma, Guanda / Fondazione Pietro Bembo, 2019-2021; Operette morali, a cura di Laura Melosi, Milano, Rizzoli Bur, 2008.

- Cesare Pavese, La casa in collina, Torino, Einaudi, 2020.

Part 1 – scholar studies

- Giuseppe Leda, Leggere la Commedia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2021 (capp. I-VII)

- Giorgio Bertone, Il volto di Dio, il volto di Laura. La questione del ritratto. Petrarca, Rvf. XVI, LXXVII, LXXVIII, Genova, il Nuovo Melangolo, 2008

- Riccardo Bruscagli, Machiavelli, Bologna, il Mulino, 2008

- Marco Bazzocchi, Leopardi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008

Part 2

It is recommended to use a recent anthological manual for high schools for the selection of authors and texts of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the 20th century (e.g. Giulio Ferroni, Andrea Cortellessa, Italo Pantani, Silvia Tatti, Storia e testi della letteratura italiana, Milano, Mondadori; or Romano Luperini, Pietro Cataldi, Lidia Marchiani, Franco Marchese, Le parole le cose, Palermo, Palumbo; or Cesare Segre, Clelia Martignoni, Testi nella storia, Milano, Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori, or Leggere il mondo: letteratura, testi, culture, Milano, Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori; or Guido Baldi, Silvia Giusso, Mario Ranzetti, Giuseppe Zaccaria, Le occasioni della letteratura, Milano-Torino, Pearson Italia-Paravia; or others)

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LUCA BELTRAMI (President)

ANDREA FERRANDO

MATTEO NAVONE (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

28 September 2023

Class schedule

ITALIAN LITERATURE

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is presential and oral. During the course, a number of optional mid-term tests will be scheduled to allow students to split the syllabus over two dates. Each student will have the opportunity to take part in a mid-term interview in which to discuss a section of the syllabus. If successful, the topics discussed in the mid-term interview will no longer be the subject of the final exam.

In more detail, the mid-term interview will focus on an anthological selection (part 2 of the syllabus) of authors and texts representative of the main outlines of the history of Italian literature from its origins to the Eighteenth century.

The final exam, instead, will focus on the topics argued during the lectures and specified in the programme (part 1), plus the anthological selection (part 2 of the syllabus) of authors and texts from the Nineteenth to the Twentieth century.

If desired, the students can discuss the entire programme by taking only the final exam. The same exam procedures also apply to non-attending students and Erasmus students.

During the course, further details will be provided regarding the dates of the mid-term inteviews and exams.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam tests the expertise to paraphrase and comment a literary text in poetry or prose. It aims to assess the skill to contextualise the texts in the frame of the Italian cultural history; to illustrate their metrical and stylistic features; to make connections and comparisons among different authors and works, to expose the contents with an appropriate language and to discuss the topics learned during the lessons.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Non-attending students, as well as attending ones, are kindly requested to register for the course in AulaWeb.