29001 - Twentieth-Century Prose and Narrative Genres (LM)

Academic Year 2019/2020

Course contents

Main subject: The Ominous Crow. Kafka and Italian 20th Century Literature.

This course lasts 60 hours, and amounts to 12 credits. For Erasmus+ and Overseas exchange students, as well as for other students interested in taking this class for 6 credits, the final examination will consist, alternatively:

a. on the presentation and oral discussion of a short paper (25-30000 bytes) composed upon a specific subject-matter related to those treated throughout the course; this subject-matter, together with the related bibliographical references, should be decided with a teacher's help;

b. on the oral discussion upon three units chosen among the six units that compose the whole course.

This course is aimed at the study of thematic, stylistic and historical spurs of Franz Kafka's work in Italian 20th Century narrative and criticism.

This course assumes a minimum of knowledge upon 20th Century Italian literature, acquired throughout the BA curriculum.

Lectures start on Monday, 3rd Feb., 2020, and go further with the following schedule:

Monday, 3-5 pm, Room II, Via Zamboni 38;

Tuesday, 3-5 pm, Room C, Via Centotrecento 18;

Wednesday, 5-7 pm, Room IV, Via Zamboni 38.

From 24th March, 2020 to 8th May, 2020, classes will be scheduled as follows:

Tuesday, 5-7 pm, Tibiletti Room, Via Zamboni 38;

Thursday, 5-7 pm, Room C, Via Centotrecento 18;

Friday, 5-7 pm, Room C, Via Centotrecento 18.

Readings/Bibliography

Throughout the course, a set of texts will be selected and discussed, including these sources:

- Tommaso Landolfi [1908-1979], Le due zittelle [1946] and LA BIERE DU PECHEUR [1953];

- Franco Fortini [1917-1994], Kafka, questo ebreo di Praga [1946] and Capoversi su Kafka [1947];

- Elsa Morante [1912-1985], Menzogna e sortilegio [1948];

- Dino Buzzati [1906-1972], Un amore [1963] and some tales from Il colombre e altri cinquanta racconti [1966];

- Italo Calvino [1923-1985], Lezioni americane [1985], 1. Leggerezza;

- Primo Levi [1919-1987], I sommersi e i salvati [1986].

The following texts will be rather considered as bibliographical sources:

- Giacomo Debenedetti, Il romanzo del Novecento, Milan: Garzanti, 1998 [the chapters La nascita del romanzo, 47-48, and Alcuni aspetti del romanzo, 449-606];

- Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Kafka. Per una letteratura minore, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2010 [the following chapters: 1. Contenuto ed espressione; 3. Che cos'è una letteratura minore?; 5. L'immanenza del desiderio];

- Saskia Elizabeth Ziolkowski, Kafka and Italy. A New Perspective on the Italian Literary Landscape, in Franz Kafka for the Twenty-First Century, ed. by Ruth Gross and Stanley Corngold, Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2011, 237-249;

- Reiner Stach, Questo è Kafka?, Milan: Adelphi, 2016 [reading limited to sections included in Insegnamenti Online].

Students who won't attend the class will be requested to read the following book:

Thomas G. Pavel, Le vite del romanzo. Una storia, Milan: Mimesis, 2015 [primarily pp. 11 to 42 and 363 to 406 (this reading available even in English: The Lives of the Novel, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013].

Further explanations on these and other resources will be provided during the course. Samples of texts will be partially made available to students on time with a view to the exam; any other information will be available on the Insegnamenti Online web site.

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures with a strong interaction between students and teacher.

Assessment methods

For the 6 credits option see above, "Course contents".

For 12 credits, the final exam consists of an oral appointment, which aims to verify some methodological, personally developed skills. It focuses on the main theoretical matters approached throughout the class, and verifies the knowledge of the texts and essays that have been the subject of a common consideration throughout the class. Students could be invited to read and comment some samples using an original approach from a critically well-based point of view.

A positive or excellent score (27 to 30/30, even with distinction) corresponds to a full mastering of technical, theoretical, historical and typological sources, to the ability to make connections among single parts of the course contents, and to show awareness of textual features with an appropriate language; an average score (23 to 26/30) goes to students who reveal some lacks in one or more topics or analytical proofs, or are able to use barely mechanically their abilities; a pass or low score (18 to 22/30) to students with severe lacks in one or more topics or exercises, or with inaccuracies while using notions or approaching samples. A negative score is assigned to students who are not able to demonstrate any knowledge of the basic notions required.

Examination sessions take place monthly. No sessions in August. Please sign up at the AlmaEsami web site. The registration time ends two days before the oral examination.

Teaching tools

Excerpts from texts and criticism in digital scans.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Colangelo

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.