14057 - Comparative Literatures (1) (A-L)

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course in Comparative literatures, via the careful analysis of significant works of western literature, students acquire the knowledge allowing them to deal with some of the main methodological nuclei of comparative studies; from the examination of the close intertwining existing between different national cultures, to the study of the complex relationships between literature and other languages (be they those of science, philosophy or criticism, or expressive ones such as painting, music, photography, theatre, cinema), up to the reconstruction of the recurrence of long lasting literary themes, spanning multiple nationalities.

Course contents

The Origins of Post-Apocalyptic Novel and its Forms. Catastrophes, Survivors, Witnesses

The genre of the post-apocalyptic novel differs from previous literary genres, such as the tragedy, the dystopian novels and the prophetic texts. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the post-apocalyptic novel develops specific features and topics that allow us to consider it a new literary genre, that will also produce some film adaptations. The course will consider the emergence of the post-apocalyptic novel in relation to the anthropological and cultural changes of the industrial and Western countries, as well as their cities, between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In particular, there are two main categories. On the one hand, the story of the survivor; he/she is the narrator who witnesses the apocalypse and wanders alone in a suspended world, which paradoxically has already finished but does not come to an end. On the other hand, the catastrophic novel narrates the end of the world and its causes, which are usually due to the mankind and its excess. We account for the focus on the nature’s counterattack and apocalyptic effects produced on the community, on its values, and finally on the common moral behavior. Particular attention will be paid to the tension of these novels to avoid any ending and to their strength in undermining the very concept of an end.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Literary Texts

First Module

Mary Shelley, The Last Man (1826)

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Earth’s Holocaust (1844)

Camille Flammarion, The Last Days of the World (1894)

Matthew P. Shiel, The Purple Cloud (1901)

Jack London, The Scarlet Plague (1912)

Second Module

John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids (1951)

Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (1954)

John Christopher, The Death of Grass (1956)

James G. Ballard, The Drowned World (1962)

D. Lessing, The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)

Guido Morselli, Dissipatio H.G. (1977)

Paolo Volponi, Il pianeta irritabile (1978)

Paul Auster, In the Country of Last Things (1987)

José Saramago, Essay on Blindness (1995)

Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)

Laura Pugno, Sirene (2007)

Antoine Volodine, Terminus radieux (2014)

Niccolò Ammaniti, Anna (2015)

Essays

Cometa, Michele, Visioni della fine. Apocalissi, catastrofi, estinzioni, Palermo, Duepunti, 2004, 124 pages

Lino, Mirko, L’apocalisse postmoderna tra letteratura e cinema. Catastrofi, oggetti, metropoli, corpi, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2014, 141 pp.

Kermode, Frank, The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction, Oxford University Press, 1967, chapters I - IV.

Muzzioli, Francesco, Scritture della catastrofe. Istruzioni e ragguagli per un viaggio nelle distopie, Mimesis, Milano 2021.

Massini Giulia, Il paradosso post-apocalittico del Novecento, in «Le parole e le cose. Letteratura e realtà», 4 July 2018, < http://www.leparoleelecose.it>

Movies

Some classes will be devoted to the film-screening (in Italian) of Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior (1981) directed by George Miller, 12 Monkeys (1995) directed by Terry Gilliam, and The Road (2009) directed by John Hillcoat.

Students who enroll for 12 CFU have to carefully choose and study three literary texts from the list of the first module and three other literary texts from the second module’s list.

Students who enroll for 6 CFU have to carefully study one literary text choosen among the novels by Mary Shelley or Matthew P. Shiel and two other literary texts from the second module’s list.

In addition, students attending the course have to study Frank Kermode’s book, The Sense of an Ending, and Muzzioli, Francesco, Scritture della catastrofe.

Students non-attending the course equally have to study Frank Kermode’s book, The Sense of an Ending, Muzzioli, Francesco, Scritture della catastrofe, and, in addition, they have also to read carefully another essays from the list. Alike attending students, the non-attending students have to add one essa from the list different from the books written by Kermode and Muzzioli.

 

Teaching methods

Teaching methods

The course is based upon around 60 hours of lectures: students are invited to actively take part during the lectures and debate the subjects put forward.

Assessment methods

 

Assessment methods

The final exam, consisting of face to face interviews, aims at verifying knowledge acquired through the reading of the works proposed and assess students’ critical skills. The students’ capacity to navigate literary and critical texts, contextualising them appropriately, shall be evaluated. An assessment of excellence will indicate an hermeneutical capacity on the part of the student to create connections between literary and critical texts, together with ascertained expository skills. Possible gaps in knowledge on matters discussed during the course and inappropriate, or confused language will entail low marks.

Teaching tools

Teaching tools

Lectures will make use of PPTs, as well as film viewings. Any additional teaching material shall be made available to students on the site (link ‘Teaching tools – Materiale didattico)

Office hours

See the website of Ferdinando Amigoni