- Docente: Andrea Lazzarini
- Credits: 6
- Language: English
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Italian Studies, European Literary Cultures, Linguistics (cod. 9220)
Learning outcomes
At the end of the seminar students will have acquired awareness of peculiar dimensions of Italian culture. Students will show awareness of the research problems in a wide series of topic concerning italian culture such as New Avandgarde in Italy, food and italian identity, migration Italy. Students will demonstrate a sound theoretical framework within which specific research interests could be developed in a interdisciplinary perspective.
Course contents
The course is designed to introduce students to the Italian literary culture of the 16th and 17th century. It aims at providing a wide historical background on the issue, together with the basic tools for reading, analysing and contextualizing Italian works of the Renaissance and the Baroque Era.
Lectures will be organized in modules, and will focus on a diverse range of literary genres: 1) The legacy of Dante and Petrarch: Pietro Bembo, Petrarchism and the ‘birth’ of the Italian literary language. 2) Chivalry books and epic poetry (Ludovico Ariosto, Torquato Tasso and Giovan Battista Marino). 3) Dialogues and treatises: Castiglione, Machiavelli, Galileo. 4) The Renaissance theatre and the Commedia dell’arte. Each module will be complemented by critical insights on writers who have been pivotal to the shaping of the Italian and European culture: focusing on excerpts from their main works, the course will address some vital issues concerning the history of the Italian culture.
Readings/Bibliography
Bibliography (recommended)
The Cambridge history of Italian literature, edited by Peter Brand, Lino Pertile, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
The Oxford companion to Italian literature, edited by Peter Hainsworth, David Robey, Oxford University Press, 2002.
Readings:
An anthology of Italian texts in English translation will be provided during the lectures, along with further critical bibliography.
Teaching methods
Each module provides an introduction to the history and culture of the related period and on its main authors. Part of the lectures will be committed to reading and commenting on excerpts of Italian literary works (in English translation). Students will be invited to analyse, compare and discuss readings that will be assigned during lectures.
Assessment methods
Written exam, that will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.
Office hours
See the website of Andrea Lazzarini