OVERVIEW

Teaching for 6 CFU: 36 hours, first semester
Teaching for 9 CFU: 54 hours, second semester

Key words:
Memory/Oblivion; Destruction/Reconstruction; Resistance; Spiritual Resistance (Civil Resistance); War and Landscape; Violence; Heroism; Homeland. 

The teaching is divided into two parts. The first (6 CFU, 36 h) will focus on the specific theme of literature and war. After a general introduction based on Alberto Casadei's volume La guerra (Laterza, 1999) focusing on the literary representation of war from Homer to the present day, we will examine works by Polish authors who have devoted particular attention to this theme in poetry or prose. 

The second part of the course (an additional 18 hours, for a total of 9 CFU) will consist of a general overview of the major literary currents and historical-political events from Young Poland to the present day.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students must be able to orient themselves and understand Polish literature of the twentieth century, in particular as regards the general themes of teaching.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course, students must be able to orient themselves and understand Polish literature of the twentieth century, in particular as regards the general themes of teaching. They will have to know at least in broad terms the complex geo-political history of Poland of the last century. They will also have acquired a first knowledge of translation techniques from Polish into Italian and will be able, through group work and on-line support, to carry out simple translations from literary texts.

PREREQUISITES

To have completed one or two year of Polish Literature

Participation is also allowed for Polish Erasmus students.

TEACHING METHODS

Reading, explanation and commentary of the films and of some of the main texts. At least once during the semester students will be asked to prepare, in small groups of two or three people, a brief comment on one of the topics covered and to present it to the rest of the class

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Teaching for 6 CFU: 36 hours, first semester
Teaching for 9 CFU: 54 hours, second semester

The first part of the teaching (36 h, 6 CFU) will focus on the cinematography of Andrzej Wajda. WAJDA (1926-2016, Oscar for Lifetime Achievement: 2000) devoted at least half of his 40 or so films to novels or short stories from Polish or Russian literature. His films are an effective fusion of history with romantic national and personal dramas, painting and images of Polish art. Wajda, as has been said, has perhaps embodied and interpreted the self-consciousness of his country like no other Polish intellectual. We will therefore study 20th century Polish history and culture through the commented viewing of some of his films, which will be accompanied by the reading of literary texts that inspired them.

We will therefore watch the following films, in Italian or with Italian subtitles:

Wesele 

Korczak 

Katyn

Powidoki

Ashes and Diamonds 

Marble Man

Walesa

Tatarak 

 Two online and in-person meetings will also be part of the teaching:

Andrzej Wajda: who was he? A meeting with Lorenzo Costantino, Head of the Film Department of the Polish Institute in Rome

Andrzej Wajda and Tadeusz Borowski. Meeting with Alberto Rizzerio, President of the Primo Levi Cultural Centre - Genoa.

Key words:
Memory/Oblivion; Destruction/Reconstruction; Resistance; Spiritual Resistance (Civil Resistance); War and Landscape; Violence; Heroism; Homeland. 

The teaching is divided into two parts. The first (6 CFU, 36 h) will focus on the specific theme of literature and war. After a general introduction based on Alberto Casadei's volume La guerra (Laterza, 1999) focusing on the literary representation of war from Homer to the present day, we will examine works by Polish authors who have devoted particular attention to this theme in poetry or prose. It will start with Józef Wittlin, whose novel The Salt of the Earth (1935) is probably the only great Polish literary narrative on the First World War, to arrive at Wisława Szymborska (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996) who dedicated verse to the Second World War but also to the Vietnam War, the phenomenon of terrorism and the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York on 11 September 2001. The theme will allow us to approach some of the greatest Polish writers of the last century and understand the still unhealed wound caused to Poland by the events of 1939-1945.
Particular attention will be paid to the fundamental literary text by Miron Białoszewski Memoirs of the Warsaw Uprising (1970), published for the first time in Italian translation by Adelphi in 2021.
There will also be a viewing with commentary of the Italian version of three films: The Damned of Warsaw by Andrzej Wajda (1957), The Passenger by Andrzej Munk (1963), The Pianist by Roman Polansky (2002).

The second part of the teaching (a further 18 hours, for a total of 54 h, 9 CFU) will consist of a general summary of the major literary currents and historical-political events, from Young Poland to the present day.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography

COMPULSORY READINGS

MANUAL:

History of Polish Literature edited by Luigi Marinelli, Einaudi 2004, from p. 324 to the end.

Viewing, explanation and commentary on the films and the texts inspired by them.

The volume and the articles in AulaWeb, by Paolo D'Agostino, Francesco Cataluccio, Laura Quercioli, Marina Fabbri.

TWO of the following volumes:

Stanislaw Wyspianski: The Wedding

Victor Zaslavsky: Class Cleansing: The Katyn Massacre

Janusz Korczak: Diaries

Tadeusz Borowski: By Us in Auschwitz

Jerzy Andrzejewski: Ashes and Diamonds

Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz: Mother Joan of Angels and Other Short Novels

Non-attending students will arrange with the lecturer to watch the films and read THREE of the volumes of their choice.

Polish students and those who wish may read the literary texts in the original language.

Before accessing the exam, at least a week in advance, all students, whether attending or not, will have to prepare a short paper (one or two pages), on one of the subjects of the course, following the instructions in the file Norme per tesi e tesine available on the Teacher Page

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

LAURA QUERCIOLI (President)

ARSEN HORDZIY

KAROLINA KOWALCZE (President Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

October 11, 2023

Class schedule

POLISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE II

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The oral exam will allow to evaluate the student's ability to put in relation the various topics discussed during the course. During the exam, which includes open questions and feedbacks on the entire program covered, will be evaluated the quality of the presentation, the correct use of the vocabulary (in particular in relation to the literary movements and the currents of thought studied), the capacity of critical and temporal orientation.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The student will demonstrate to have assimilated the program, to have acquired the basic knowledge provided during the teaching, to be able to elaborate a short speech both on the subject at will and on those required and to comment on the texts studied during the course semester, placing them in the Polish and European historical and cultural context. Attendance and active participation in the lessons will not only facilitate the exam path but will also be evaluated in the final score.
The essay submitted before the exam will be discussed and evaluated

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Polish students may read all the texts in the bibliography in the original language.

Special facilitations will be provided for Ukrainian students.

Students with certified DSA, disabilities or other special educational needs are advised to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course in order to agree on teaching and examination methods that, while respecting the teaching objectives, take into account individual learning methods and provide suitable compensatory tools.