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CODE 66407
ACADEMIC YEAR 2025/2026
CREDITS
SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINARY SECTOR L-FIL-LET/13
LANGUAGE Italian
TEACHING LOCATION
  • GENOVA
SEMESTER 2° Semester

OVERVIEW

«Philologists have the task of conserving the ancient meaning of the text that they are materially preserving. Therefore they have to act as mediators between the text and the community». The course aims to put this definition by Heinrich Lausberg into practice by applying it to a different specific text every year and experimenting with how to do a critical edition in practice

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Analysing in depth the themes of the history of tradition and textual criticism with reference to Italian literary texts with particular attention to the specific problems posed by different types of tradition (handwritten or printed, old or modern texts) in relation to the practice of edition technique. Acquiring familiarity with witness reconstruction, analysis of textual traditions and criticism of different versions.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Identify problems relating to the history of tradition and techniques of ecdotics with reference to Italian literary texts by means of an example-based analysis from a specific text. Acquire sufficient familiarity with testimonial reconstructions, the analysis of textual traditions and variant criticism. For those taking the 9 cfu examination, arrive at an autonomous ability to construct a critically reliable text from the comparison of various manuscripts.

PREREQUISITES

To have taken the course of Italian Philology during the three-year degree course it's recommended but not mandatory.

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons will be held in frontal teaching (points a) and b) of syllabus) and as seminar (point c) of syllabus).

All students must sign up AulaWeb

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Course for 6 cfu

a) Institutional elements of Italian philology
The first part of the course will analyse problems relating to the critical edition of texts of Italian literature and will provide the basic elements of method necessary for the constitution of a critically reliable text from a philological point of view

b) Minor poets of the 13th century before Dante
In the second part of the course a number of poetic texts written before Dante will be illustrated that are mainly preserved in the three so-called "canzonieri delle Origini" (Laurenziano Rediano 9, ex-Palatino 418 and Vaticano lat. 3793). These poems will be placed in a historical-geographical perspective and analysed from a textual, metrical and interpretative point of view.

Course for 9 cfu

a) Institutional elements of Italian philology
The first part of the course will analyse problems relating to the critical edition of texts of Italian literature and will provide the basic elements of method necessary for the constitution of a critically reliable text from a philological point of view

b) Minor poets of the 13th century before Dante
In the second part of the course a number of poetic texts written before Dante will be illustrated that are mainly preserved in the three so-called "canzonieri delle Origini" (Laurenziano Rediano 9, ex-Palatino 418 and Vaticano lat. 3793). These poems will be placed in a historical-geographical perspective and analysed from a textual, metrical and interpretative point of view.

c) How is a critical edition done?
The third part of the course will take place in seminar format and will consist of the preparation of a critical edition of some thirteenth-century poetic texts.

Students who are unable to attend are requested to contact the lecturer before the end of the semester.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for 6 CFU course

a) Paolo Trovato, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Lachmann's Method. A Non-Standard Handbook of Genealogical Textual Criticism in the Age of Post-Structuralism, Cladistics, and Copy-Text, Padova, Libreriauniversitaria.it, 2014.

b)  Course materials (texts, critical bibliography, reproductions of manuscripts, etc.) will be made available on AulaWeb

Bibliography for 9 CFU course

a) Paolo Trovato, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Lachmann's Method. A Non-Standard Handbook of Genealogical Textual Criticism in the Age of Post-Structuralism, Cladistics, and Copy-Text, Padova, Libreriauniversitaria.it, 2014.

b) Course materials (texts, critical bibliography, reproductions of manuscripts, etc.) will be made available on AulaWeb

c) The list of texts and useful materials for the exercise (in particular reproductions of manuscripts) will be made available on AulaWeb

Students which won't be able to attend lessons must contact the teacher before semester end

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 19th, 2024

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam for sections a) and b) of the programme. For section c) is required a brief written report (students are allowed to form working groups) agreed with the teacher. The report will be debated in class with teaching staff and other students. Participation in the seminar will be sufficient for the assessment about section c) of the programme.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Oral exam will test the knowledges related to the specific text chosen by way of example of the learning and the awareness of the specific problems it raises in order to history of tradition and techniques of ecdotic.

Seminar will verify the skills in building a critically reliable text by comparing its different manuscript witnesses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKHRU9HmqEM

FURTHER INFORMATION

All students must sign up AulaWeb.

Those who could not attend the course are invited to contact the teacher before semester end.

 

Students with disabilities or DSA are reminded that in order to be able to request adaptations in the exam, they must first enter their certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the ‘Students’ section. The documentation will be checked by the University's Services for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities and DSA Sector (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).
Subsequently, at least 10 days before the date of the exam, an e-mail must be sent to the teacher with whom you will be sitting the exam, including in copy knowledge of both the School's Referring Teacher for the inclusion of students with disabilities and with DSA (Prof. Elisabetta Colagrossi: elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it) and the Sector indicated above.

The e-mail must specify: the name of the teaching course; the date of the call; the student's surname, first name and roll number; the compensatory and dispensatory measures considered to be functional; and requested.  The contact person will confirm to the teacher that the applicant has the right to request adaptations during the examination and that these adaptations must be agreed upon with the teacher. The lecturer will respond by stating whether the requested adaptations can be used.
Requests must be sent at least 10 days before the date of the exam in order to allow the lecturer to assess their content. In particular, if you intend to use concept maps
conceptual maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for studying) if the submission does not meet the deadline, there will be no technical time to make any changes.

For further information on the request for services and adaptations, please refer to the document: https://unige.it/sites/unige.it/files/2024-05/Linee%20guida%20per%20la%20richiesta%20di%20servizi%2C%20di%20strumenti%20compensativi%20e_o%20di%20misure%20dispensative%20e%20di%20ausili%20specifici%20Maggio%202024.pdf

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