09435 - Literary Theory

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the students have a basic knowledge of some general concepts of literature, of literary institutions, of relationships between text and contest and of the dynamic of literary communication. They know and can apply some basic methodologies to analyse literary texts.

Course contents

Introduction to text analysis: The theory of the novel

The course of Theory of literature for undergraduates aims to: 1) Outline a new approach to literary experience, conceiving theory not as a self-referential system but as a point of view, an optical device to sharpen textual comprehension; 2) Provide methods for text analysis and interpretation, against trivial critical trends where the text is only a pre-text to study something else (the author, the themes, the ideology, the historical context, etc.). On the one hand, the theoretical approach is a way to research, explore and pose questions. On the other hand, the text is a workshop where we can develop and test the tools to really understand what we call literature. The progress of the novel from Eighteenth to Twentieth Century will be the historical background to carry out this critical exercise between theory and practice of literature.

Period: Second semester (february-may 2020)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: See teacher website.

Readings/Bibliography

I. Novels

• Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe (1719), Garzanti
• Stendhal, Il rosso e il nero (1830), Garzanti
• Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary (1857), Garzanti
• Robert Louis Stevenson, Il Master di Ballantrae (1889), Garzanti
• Virginia Woolf, Al faro (1927), Feltrinelli
• Georges Perec, La vita istruzioni per l’uso (1978), Rizzoli

II. Critical Texts

Students will study all texts in Group A and choose one text in Group B:

Group A

• Federico Bertoni, Letteratura. Teorie, metodi, strumenti, Carocci

• Guido Mazzoni, Teoria del romanzo, il Mulino

Group B

• Giancarlo Alfano, La forma del romanzo tra soggetto e mondo, in Giancarlo Alfano, Francesco de Cristofaro (eds.), Il romanzo in Italia, vol. I: Forme, poetiche, questioni, Carocci, pp. 15-35
• Michail Bachtin, Epos e romanzo, in Michail Bachtin, Estetica e romanzo, Einaudi, pp. 445-482
• Alfonso Berardinelli, L’incontro con la realtà, in Franco Moretti (a cura di), Il romanzo, vol. II: Le forme, Einaudi, pp. 341-381
• Federico Bertoni, Nascita e metamorfosi del romanzo, in Piero Boitani e Massimo Fusillo (eds.), Letteratura europea, vol. II: Generi letterari, Utet, pp. 121-37
• Riccardo Capoferro, Le fondamenta culturali del novel, in Riccardo Capoferro, Novel. La genesi del romanzo moderno nell’Inghilterra del Settecento, Carocci, pp. 15-66
• Gianni Celati, Finzioni occidentali, in Gianni Celati, Finzioni occidentali, Einaudi, pp. 5-49
• Francesco de Cristofaro, Nel segno di Proteo. Una genealogia europea, in Giancarlo Alfano, Francesco de Cristofaro (eds.), Il romanzo in Italia, vol. I: Forme, poetiche, questioni, Carocci, pp. 37-61
• Massimo Fusillo, Fra epica e romanzo, in Franco Moretti (ed.), Il romanzo, vol. II: Le forme, Einaudi, pp. 5-34
• Franco Moretti, Il secolo serio, in Franco Moretti (ed.), Il romanzo, vol. I: La cultura del romanzo, Einaudi, pp. 689-725; oppure in Franco Moretti, Il borghese, Einaudi
• Thomas Pavel, Il romanzo alla ricerca di se stesso. Saggio di morfologia storica, in Franco Moretti (ed.), Il romanzo, vol. II: Le forme, Einaudi, pp. 35-63
• Marthe Robert, Pourquoi le roman?, in Marthe Robert, Roman des origines et origines du roman, Gallimard, pp. 11-40
• Maurice Z. Shroder, The Novel as a Genre, in Philip Stevick (ed.), The Theory of the Novel, The Free Press, pp. 13-30
• Walter Siti, Il romanzo sotto accusa, in Franco Moretti (ed.), Il romanzo, vol. I: La cultura del romanzo, Einaudi, pp. 129-192
• Ian Watt, Il realismo e la forma del romanzo, in Ian Watt, Le origini del romanzo borghese, Bompiani, pp. 7-31

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral or written test (according to students' choice) 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