30133 - Theory of Literature (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the students have a good insight in the specificity of literary language, a depth knowledge about the general concepts of literature, the literary institutions, the relationships between text and context, the dynamics of literary communication, as well as stylistic traditions, genres, modes and forms of representation. They can master the interpretative tools for the analysis of literary texts.

Course contents

Words in action: Literature and Resistance

«You knew you were on the right side, and in a few other moments of your life – I speak for my generation and for those who were with me at that time – what you wanted to do coincided with what you had to do. The sense of concordance between duty and will was extraordinary». These words by Luigi Meneghello, one of the great storytellers of the Liberation struggle, describe very well the feelings of many partisans about that exceptional experience. So a great challenge opens up for literature, fully engaged in translating into written words the historical action, in giving a narrative and stylistic form to such an intense and extraordinary experience. In 1964, almost twenty years after his first novel, Italo Calvino will try to explain it: «to us the whole problem was on of poetics; how to transform into a literary work that world which for us was the world». The course will focus on this political and poetic point and will analyze some texts of the Italian and European Resistance.

Period: Second semester (february-march 2020)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: See teacher website.

Readings/Bibliography

 I. Novels

• Vercors, Il silenzio del mare (1942), Einaudi
• Romain Gary, Educazione europea (1945), Neri Pozza
• Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno (1947), Mondadori
• Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata (1963), Einaudi
• Luigi Meneghello, I piccoli maestri (1964), Mondadori
• Primo Levi, Se non ora, quando? (1982), Einaudi

II.Critical Texts

A. Resistance and literature

Students will choose three texts from the list below:

• Alessandro Baldacci, Romanzi della Resistenza, in Il romanzo in Italia, vol. III: Il primo Novecento, a cura di Giancarlo Alfano e Francesco de Cristofaro, Carocci, pp. 349-360
• Adriano Ballone, Letteratura e Resistenza, in Dizionario della Resistenza, vol. II: Luoghi, formazioni, protagonisti, a cura di Enzo Collotti, Renato Sandri e Frediano Sessi, pp. 711-718
• Andrea Battistini, Dalle pianure della cronaca alle colline della storia e della letteratura, in Letteratura e Resistenza, a cura di Andrea Bianchini e Francesca Lolli, Clueb, pp. 7-23
• Stefano Calabrese, Introduzione, in Parole in guerra. Romanzo e Resistenza, Mucchi, pp. 3-21
• Italo Calvino, La letteratura italiana sulla Resistenza (1949), in Italo Calvino, Saggi, a cura di M. Barenghi, Mondadori (“I Meridiani”), vol. I, pp. 1492-1500
• Italo Calvino, Prefazione 1964 al “Sentiero dei nidi di ragno”, in Italo Calvino, Romanzi e racconti, a cura di Mario Barenghi e Mario Falcetto, Mondadori (“I Meridiani”), vol. I, pp. 1185-1204
• Giovanni De Luna, La Resistenza tra storiografia e letteratura, in “Il Ponte”, LI, 1, 1995, pp. 108-127
• Giovanni Falaschi, La Resistenza armata nella narrativa italiana, Einaudi, solo il capitolo Il racconto (e il romanzo), pp. 54-80
• Franco Fortini, Letteratura e Resistenza, in Franco Fortini, Claudio Pavone, Gianni Rondolino, Conoscere la Resistenza. Storia, letteratura e cinema della guerra civile in Italia (1943-45), Unicopli, pp. 31-64
• Luigi Meneghello, Quanto sale?, in Luigi Meneghello, Jura. Ricerche sulla natura delle forme scritte, Rizzoli, pp. 127-157
• Gabriele Pedullà, Una lieve colomba, introduzione a Racconti della Resistenza, a cura di Gabriele Pedullà, Einaudi, pp. V-XLIII

B. Resistence: history, ethics, and culture

Students will chose one text from the list below:

• Philip Cooke, L’eredità della Resistenza. Storia, cultura, politiche dal dopoguerra a oggi, Viella
• Claudio Pavone, Una guerra civile. Saggio storico sulla moralità nella Resistenza, Bollati Boringhieri. Solo questi capitoli: 1. La scelta; 4. La guerra patriottica; 5. La guerra civile; 6. La guerra di classe; 8. La politica e l’attesa del futuro
• Santo Peli, La Resistenza in Italia. Storia e critica, Einaudi

 

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral test that will assess the knowledge of the texts and the student's critical and interpretative skills. It will also assess the student's methodological awareness, the ability to master the bibliography in the course programme and the the field-specific language of the discipline. The ability to establish links between the theoretical framework and the texts will be expecially appreciated. A wide and systematic knowledge of the texts, interpretative insight, critical understanding and rhetorical effectiveness will be evaluated with a mark of excellence, while a mnemonic knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be evaluated with a “fair” mark. A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability will be evaluated with a pass mark or a negative mark.

Teaching tools

Projection of Power point slides. For further teaching material see the website (link "Teaching material").

Links to further information

http://www.unibo.it/SitoWebDocente/default.htm?UPN=federico.bertoni@unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni