67055 - Persian Language 2 B

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students deepen and complete their intermediate level skills in the Neo-Persian language; they are able to delve into the relevant literature and related issues, referring to the most up-to-date bibliography.

Course contents

Attention please: Students with examinations of more than 6 CFU will have a differentiated bibliography (see 'Reading/Bibliography')

In addition, students NOT attending are requested to contact the lecturer


This course, which has the title "Persian Language and Literature 2B" and is valid for students of master's degrees and those of the ARCO three-year degree ("Persian 2B"), is divided into two parts: a linguistic part (first part of the course) and a literary part (second part). In the latter, space will be given to reading and analysing (also grammaticaly) original Persian texts.



1. linguistic part

During the first part of the course, each lesson will include grammatical-syntactic analysis, exercises and conversation.

- In the grammar study, the following topics in particular will be covered: morphology and use of simple and compound verb tenses, causative and passive forms, use of the indicative and the subjunctive, period syntax (coordinated and subordinate clauses).

- The learning of grammar will be consolidated with exercises in reading, translation and analysis of texts, in particular contemporary prose.

- Another fixed part of the lessons will be devoted to interactive conversation with a communicative-situational approach, favouring the register of the language spoken in modern-day Iran. On one or two occasions, this part will include listening to Persian music preceded by reading and translation of the relevant texts.



2. literary part

During the second part of the course, dedicated to classical Persian literature, the mathnavi (narrative poems) genre will be illustrated, with a focus on the novel in verse. Specifically, three love novels will be presented: Gorgāni's "Vis and Rāmin" (11th cent.), Neẓāmi's "Khosrow and Shirin" (13th cent.) and Khwāju Kermani's "Homāy and Homāyun" (14th cent.), with the reading of selected passages in the original language, whose literary (structure, motifs, images, rhetoric, etc.) and linguistic (grammatical analysis of the text) aspects will be studied. In addition, towards the end of the course, a cycle of three seminars on the mathnavì genre of the mystical-sapiential type is planned, held by a guest professor.

Readings/Bibliography

Attention please: Students who have examinations of more than 6 CFU will have a differentiated bibliography (see below)

In addition, NON-attending students are requested to contact the lecturer


A. FOR THE LITERARY PART

I. THE BIBLIOGRAPHY REQUIRED FOR THE 6 CFU EXAM:

a. one translation is to be chosen from the following:

- Nezami, Leylà e Majnun, a cura di G. Calasso, Adelphi, Milano 1985

- Khwāju di Kerman, Homāy e Homāyun. Un romanzo d'amore e avventura dalla Persia medievale, a cura di N. Norozi, presentazione di J.C. Bürgel, Mimesis, Milano 2016

- Neẓāmi, Khosrow e Shirin, a cura di D. Meneghini, Ariele, Milano 2017

- Hātefi, I sette scenari, edizione critica e traduzione a cura di M. Bernardini, Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, Series Minor, Napoli 1995.

- Fakhr al-Din Gorgani, Dieci lettere di Vis a Ramin sulla crudeltà. Il più celebre epistolario amoroso del medioevo persiano, a cura di N. Norozi, con una prefazione di Mario Mancini (Collana "Biblioteca Medievale"), Carocci, Roma 2022

 

b. and in order to deepen the historical-literary aspects, one should read one of the following book chapters:

- the chapter about mathnavi in: Bausani A, La letteratura neopersiana, in Pagliaro A. - Bausani A, La letteratura persiana, Sansoni-Accademia, Firenze-Milano 1968, pp. 356-489

- The chapters on epic and verse romance in J. C. Bürgel, “Il discorso è nave, il significato un mare”. Saggi sull’amore e il viaggio nella poesia persiana classica, Carocci, Roma 2006, pp. 19-75

- Additional materials will be sent as telematic handouts during the course.

 

II. THE BIBLIOGRAPHY REQUIRED FOR THE 9 CFU EXAM (AND FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS):

to be added to the bibliography above:

- Nahid Norozi, Esordi del romanzo persiano. Dal Vis e Rāmin di Gorgāni (XI sec.) al ciclo di Tristano, con una premessa di F. Benozzo, Collana "Il cavaliere del leone", diretta da Andrea Fassò, Edizioni dell'Orso, Alessandria, 2021, pp. 13-18; 27-71; 91-149; 231-279.

 

III. THOSE WISHING TO TAKE A 12 CFU EXAMINATION

ADD TO THE ABOVE (I and II) ALSO one additional reading from the following list of predominantly contemporary works

Prose:

- Samad Behrangi, Il pesciolino nero, a cura di M. Casari, Roma, Donzelli, 2008

- Sadeq Hedayat, La civetta cieca. Tre gocce di sangue, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2006

- Shahrnush Parsipur, Donne senza uomini, a cura di A. Vanzan, Milano, Tranchida, 2004

- Zoya Pirzad, Spengo io le luci, a cura di A. Vanzan, Brioschi, Milano 2019

- Simin Daneshvar, Suvashun. Una storia persiana, trad. di A. Vanzan, Brioschi, 2018

- Machaeva O. - Pistoso M. (a cura), Fiabe di Samarcanda, Arcana, Milano 1994.

- Iraj Pezeshkzad, Mio zio Napoleone, a cura di Anna Vanzan, Brioschi, Milano 2020

Poetry:

- Abbas Kiarostami, Un lupo in agguato, a cura di R. Zipoli, Einaudi, 2003

- Sohrāb Sepehri, Sino al fiore del nulla. 99 poesie (con i testi originali a fronte), a cura di N. Norozi, Centro Essad Bey, (libro - Edizioni CreateSpace IPP), Charleston 2016 (disponibile su Amazon).

- Forugh Farrokhzad, È solo la voce che resta, a cura di F. Mardani, Riccardo Condò Editore, Roma 2018

- N. Norozi, Il cavallo selvaggio dell’ira. Introduzione all’opera di Ahmad Shamlu, poeta ribelle del ‘900 persiano, con ampia antologia, prefazione di M. Pistoso, Centro Essad Bey (Collana "Kharabat"), Charleston 2017 (libro - Edizioni CreateSpace IPP) disponibile su Amazon.

- N. Norozi, “La mia spada è la poesia”. Versi di lotta e d’amore nella poetessa persiana Simin Behbahāni (poesie tradotte e commentate con gli originali in appendice, talora declamate), WriteUp Books (“Ferdows. Collana di Studi iranici e islamici”), forthcoming

 

ONLY FOR STUDENTS WISHING TO MAKE IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS, perhaps with a view to a thesis on Iranian subjects, we recommend any one of these optional readings:

- Buergel J.C., Il discorso è nave, il significato un mare. Saggi sull'amore e il viaggio nella poesia persiana medievale, a cura di C. Saccone, Carocci, Roma 2006

- Norozi N., Esordi del romanzo persiano. Dal Vis e Rāmin di Gorgāni (XI sec.) al ciclo di Tristano, con una premessa di F. Benozzo, Collana "Il cavaliere del leone", diretta da Andrea Fassò, Edizioni dell'Orso, Alessandria, 2021

- De Bruijn J.T.P., Persian sufi poetry. An introduction to the mystical use of classical poems, Curzon, Richmond 1997

- Saccone C., Il re dei belli, il re del mondo. Teologia del potere e della bellezza nella poesia persiana medievale,Storia tematica della letteratura persiana classica, vol. III, Aracne, Roma 2014

- Zipoli R., “Poetic Imagery”, in: De Bruijn J. T. P. A, History of Persian Literature, Vol. I, Tauris, London-NewYork 2009, pp. 172-232

- Meneghini D., Letteratura persiana in epoca selgiuchide (429-615 / 1037-1218), Cafoscarina, Venezia 2004

- Stefano Pellò, Ṭūṭiān-i hind. Specchi identitari e proiezioni cosmopolite indo-persiane (1680-1856), Società Editrice Fiorentina, Firenze 2012

- Tornesello N. L., a cura, La letteratura persiana contemporanea tra novazione e tradizione, numero monografico di ''Oriente moderno'', I, 2003

- Vanzan A., Figlie di Shahrazad. Scrittrici iraniane dal XIX sec. a oggi, Bruno Mondadori, Milano 2009.

 

B. FOR THE LINGUISTIC PART reference texts are:

- Material will be sent during the course in the form of telematic handouts.

- (COMPULSORY for NON-attending students) Meneghini D.; Orsatti P., Corso di lingua persiana (con 2 CD audio), Hoepli, Milano 2012

 

For further in-depth analysis (optional):

- Coletti A.; Gruenbaum H., Dizionario Persiano-Italiano, Centro Culturale Italo-Iraniano, Roma 1978

- Lambton A. K. S., Persian grammar, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1966

- Coletti A., Grammatica della lingua persiana, Nuova Cultura, Roma 2007

- D’Erme G. M, Grammatica del neopersiano, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli 1979

- Piemontese A. M., Grammatica persiana in nuce, Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, Pisa-Roma 2004.

 

Teaching methods

Lectures and language exercises (see 'Course contents'), listening to musical texts, possible seminars related to the Iranian area

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

If the course is a component of an Integrated Course Lingua e Letteratura Persiana II (I.C.) in the student's study plan, the final grade will result from the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two parts.

The top marks will be given to students who display an ability to provide a full-fledged linguistic and historical commentary of the selected texts and an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology

Average marks will be given to students who memorized the main points of the material and are able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

Students will be deemed to have failed the exam if they display significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

Books, telematic (on 'Virtuale') and printed handouts, online audio-visual materials indicated during the course. Other useful materials are optionally available on the "Meykhane. Voci e memorie persiane": http://meykhane.altervista.org/, which you are free to consult in order to view the many rich materials available there.

Office hours

See the website of Nahid Norozi