OVERVIEW

The course introduces students to the study of the main authors and the most important written works, poetics and cultural movements in the history of Italian literature.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching's aim is to deepen the discipline's historiographical lines by paying more attention to philological-textual, interpretative, and critical elements. The teaching's main focus is on the Italian literary text, which is analyzed with historical-interpretative comments and placed in literary traditions based on gender coordinates, authorial affirmation, and form. In all educational contexts, the teaching is preparatory to the discipline's teaching.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students will be able to :

- identify, memorise and define genres, styles, textual traditions within the framework of Italian literary history from the 13th to the 17th century (or from the 13th to the 19th century for the Music and Performing Arts curriculum);

-identify prose styles, the main metrical genres and rhetorical strategies of texts

- demonstrate the ability to carry out accurate paraphrasing and mature commentary of texts in verse and prose, in oral and written form (including Dante's Commedia)

- be more aware of the textual tradition of works in Italian literary history

- present authors and works in oral and written form in the context of Italian literary history with particular attention to the short specialised paths that will be proposed

Students will therefore be able to acquire the following transversal skills by the end of the course

- functional literacy skills, communicating effectively in oral and written form, aware of the context, using books, texts and digital supports;

- learning to learn skills, organising and evaluating their own learning.

PREREQUISITES

The course required previous school courses including the history of Italian literature, a strong motivation towards the subject, genuine inclination towards reading and writing.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures, annotated readings of scheduled texts.

It is also compulsory to register for the teaching on Aulaweb, where materials will be posted. The use of a PC in class is particularly recommended at certain stages of the teaching. 

Lectures and workshops on metrics and rhetoric will be held by Dr F. Colombi and Dr A. Ferrando and by tutors also outside class hours.

Students will be invited to present in class in oral form some previously studied textbook parri (functional literacy).

Students will also be invited to a self-assessment through tests prepared on the aulaweb on the teaching topics.

Lecture recordings must be authorised by the lecturer and shared if necessary.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1. Classical and modern curricula: Study of the history of Italian literature from the 13th to the 17th century with selected anthology of texts.  Knowledge of metrics and rhetoric. Ceck Aulaweb for the complete syllabus about textbook. 

1. Musica e Spettacolo Curriculum: Study of the history of Italian literature (ceck Aulaweb for the list of chapters involved). Reading of Dante Alighieri, Inferno (10 cantos including I, IV, V, VI, VIII, X, XIII, XV, XXXIII, XXXIV), Paradiso (15 cantos including I, III, VI, X, XI, XV, XVI, XVII, XXV, XXXIII). Knowledge of metrics and rhetoric.

2. All curricula. " In sogno mi parea...". Dream and vision in Dante's Purgatorio and Petrarch's Rerum vulgarium fragmenta.  Reading of Pg VIII, IX, XVII, XIX, XXVII; RVF 282-286, 340-342, 359 (30 hours). 

3. For all curricula. At the sources of a genre: the Italian novel of the 17th century. An anthology. (30 hours)

NB. in parts 2 and 3 the lessons will also cover parts of interest in the history of Italian literature as in part 1.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for part 1 (frequent and non frequent participants). 

- Text book: Giancarlo Alfano, Paola Italia, Emilio Russo, Franco Tomasi, Letteratura italiana. Dalle origini a metà Cinquecento (vol. 1) and Italian Literature. Da Tasso a fine Ottocento (vol. 2), Milan, Mondadori, 2018.

Classical and modern curricula: complete list of chapters involved in Aulaweb

Musica and Spettacolo curriculum: complete list of chapters involved in Aulaweb.

For metrics and rhetoric, the following are strongly recommended as proper tools for those following a humanistic-literary path: P.G. Beltrami, Gli strumenti della poesia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012; B. M. Garavelli, Il parlar figurato. Manualetto delle figure retoriche, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2014.

- Reference edition for Dante Alighieri, Commedia: edited by A. M. Chiavacci Leonardi, Milan, Mondadori (paperback edition). 

Bibliography for Part 2 (attending and nonattending). 

- Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio, in Commedia, as indicated in Part 1. 

- Reference edition for Petrarch's Canzoniere: for some texts, several commentaries will be provided for comparison. As a basis: Canzoniere, edited by M. Santagata, Milan, Mondadori, 2018 or Canzoniere, edited by S. Stroppa, Turin, Einaudi, 2016. 

Bibliography for Part 3 (attending and nonattending). 

- Anthology of excerpts from seventeenth-century novels made available by the lecturer on Aulaweb. 

- S. Morando, Una storia minore della storia del romanzo. il Seicento, in Il romanzo in Italia I. Forms, Poetics, Issues,
edited by G. Alfano and F. de Cristofaro, Rome, Carocci, 2018, pp. 83-103 (made available by the lecturer).

Other materials (essays, texts) will be made available on aulaweb and Perusall.

Non-attending students do not have a different syllabus from attending students with regard to manuals and cantos of the Comedy. The texts of the monographic courses remain identical but there may be additions. It is therefore essential to contact the teacher.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

SIMONA MORANDO (President)

DUCCIO TONGIORGI (President)

FRANCESCA COLOMBI

GIORGIA GALLUCCI

MARCO BERISSO (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

September 28th, 2023

Class schedule

ITALIAN LITERATURE I

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

For part 1 (textbook and Dante without what part 2 entails): written intermediate tests (closed and open questions, commentary on texts) in November and December. IT IS THEREFORE ESSENTIAL TO START STUDYING THE PART 1 SYLLABUS FROM THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS.

For part 2 (Dante, Petrarch, Dream and Vision): oral exam with reading and commentary on a chosen passage.

For part 3 (Seventeenth-century Novel): oral exam with reading and commentary on a chosen passage.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For part 1, the written intermediate examinations will assess the student's ability to readily relate with method and organisation to the new methodologies of the study of Italian literature at university level and the ability to comment on texts correctly. 

For part 2 and for part 3: the oral examination with commentary on specific passages will assess the student's ability to relate to the author's linguistic and stylistic strategies through paraphrasing and to the important nodes of the texts and themes.

Exam schedule