00562 - Italian Literature (R-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are expected to achieve a good knowledge of the history of the Italian literature, a decent critic perspective, together with general notions in criticism and textual analysis, and a decent capability in composition.

Course contents

UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA

SCHOOL OF ART, HUMANITIES, AND CULTURAL HERITAGE

ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/2017

PROF. ANDREA (=ANDREW) BATTISTINI

PROGRAM OF ITALIAN LITERATURE

(students of the I^st year of the class of a three year degree

in Literature)

Letters R-Z.

Class of the di I^st term

(September 2016-December 2016)

12 credits

The program consists of two parts: 1) a specific topic, tought by the Full Professor, and 2) a more general part.

I. SPECIFC TOPIC:

The Ideals and the Obsessions of the Baroque Age

The course deals both with the literary and cultural aspects of the Baroque Age, and their relationship with Galilei’s new science. In order to prepare this part students have to study the following books:

A. Battistini, Il Barocco. Cultura, miti, immagini, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2000, chapters i-viii (= pp. 7-234);

A. Battistini, Galileo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011.

Students have also to read the following books:

Antologia della poesia italiana: Seicento, a cura di C. Ossola e C. Segre, Torino, Einaudi, 2001;

T. Accetto, Della dissimulazione onesta, a cura di S.S. Nigro, Torino, Einaudi, 1997;

G. Galilei, Lettere, a cura di E. Ardissino, Roma, Carocci, 2013².

Beside the knowledge of these books, those students who don’t attend lectures, or attend them only occasionaly, have to read also: A. Battistini, Galileo e i gesuiti. Miti letterari e retorica della scienza, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2000, chapters. i-iv (= pp. 1-181), and G. Galilei, Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (Suggested edition: Torino, Einaudi, 2002). It is considered not regular the student who attends less than the two thirds of the lectures, i.e. less than 40 hours. Students are kindly requested to calculate by themselves the number of the lectures they have attended.

II. GENERAL PART:

a) Students have to comment one of the three parts of Dante’s Comedy: either Inferno, or Purgatorio, or Paradiso (suggested comments: Sapegno [La Nuova Italia]; Pasquini-Quaglio [Garzanti]; Bosco-Reggio [Le Monnier], Chiavacci Leonardi [Mondadori]). In order to know better Dante and his text it is suggested to read: G. Ledda, Dante, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008.

b) Students have to choose and read one of the following texts; they have also to know the literary history of the period when the Author they have chosen lived (see d):

F. Petrarca, Rerum vulgarium fragmenta: 50 poems (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: E. Fenzi, Petrarca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008);

G. Boccaccio, Decameron: three Days, i.e 30 short stories (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: L. Surdich, Boccaccio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008);

M.M. Boiardo, L'inamoramento di Orlando / Orlando innamorato, 8 cantos (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: R. Donnarumma, Storia dell'«Orlando innamorato». Poetiche e modelli letterari in Boiardo, Lucca, M. Pacini Fazzi, 1997);

N. Machiavelli, Il Principe and Mandragola (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: R. Bruscagli, Machiavelli, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008);

F. Guicciardini, Ricordi (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: C. Varotti, Guicciardini, Napoli, Liguori, 2010);

L. Ariosto, Orlando Furioso: 8 cantos (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: S. Jossa, Ariosto, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009);

T. Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata: 8 cantos (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: M. Residori, Tasso, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009);

G. B. Marino, Adone, 5 cantos (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: E. Russo, Marino, Roma, Salerno, 2008).

c) Students have to choose and read one of the following texts; they have also to know the literary history of the period when the Author they have chosen lived (see d):

U. Foscolo, Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis and Dei Sepolcri (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: M. Palumbo, Foscolo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010);

G. Leopardi, 15 poesie dei Canti and 10 Operette morali (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: M.A. Bazzocchi, Leopardi, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008);

A. Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: F. De Cristofaro, Manzoni, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009);

G. Verga, I Malavoglia or Mastro-don Gesualdo (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: P. Pellini, Verga, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012);

G. D’Annunzio, Il Piacere o Alcyone (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: A. Andreoli D’Annunzio, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2004);

G. Pascoli, Myricae (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: M. Castoldi, Pascoli, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011);

L. Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal and Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: M. Polacco, Pirandello, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010);

I. Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: B. Stasi, Svevo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009);

G. Ungaretti, L’Allegria (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: D. Baroncini, Ungaretti, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010);

E. Montale, Ossi di seppia (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: A. Casadei, Montale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008);

C.E. Gadda, La cognizione del dolore or Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read: R. Rinaldi, Gadda, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2010);

I. Calvino, the trilogy of Nostri antenati (In order to know better the Author and his text it is suggested to read:, Calvino, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009).

Students, of course, are permitted to read much more texts than those here quoted. In any case students must show in the final exam the list of the texts read for the general part. They have also to specify, when the text to be read is not complete, which cantos, which poems, which prose they have chosen.

d) Students have also to know the history of the Italian literature relating the two centuries of the two Authors they have chosen among the lists b) and c). This part can be studied, for instance, in two among the following handbooks:

If students choose to read Petrarch or Boccace, they have to study L. Surdich, ll Duecento e il Trecento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.

If students choose to read Boiardo, or Machiavel, or Guicciardini, or Ariosto, or Tasso, they have to study R. Bruscagli, Il Quattrocento e il Cinquecento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.

If students choose to read Marino, they have to study E. Ardissino, Il Seicento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.

If students choose to read Foscolo, or Leopardi, or Manzoni, or Verga, or D’Annunzio, or Pascoli they have to study R. Bonavita, L’Ottocento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.

If students choose to read Pirandello, or Svevo, or Ungaretti, or Montale, or Gadda, or Calvino, they have to study, A. Casadei, Il Novecento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005.

III. WRITTEN TEST, not preclusive, to be done in class, before the oral exam. There will be four written tests every year: on January, March, May, September. As the test deals Italian literature, seminars for the general part are useful also to prepare the written test. In any case there will be a specific seminar for the written test, with guidelines of written compositions.

GENERAL ADVISORY

• This is a 12 credits course.

• Students can do their final exam in one session; anyway they can also divide it in two parts in two different sessions. Students can divide their exam in two times in this way: at first they can do the exam of the general part, then, in another time, they can do the exam of the specific topic. It is not possible to do the exam of the specific topic before the exam of the general part.

The exam sessions are eleven a year: every month except August.

Lectures’ schedule of the specific topic:

Monday 9-11 a. m., Room VI via Zamboni, 38;

Thursday 1.00-3.00 p.m., Room III via Zamboni, 38;

Friday 1.00-3.00 p.m., Room III via Zamboni, 38.

As on 2016, September 26^th there is the Welcome Day, the lectures of the specific topic begin on Thursday, September 29^th, 2016.

Probably lectures will end on December 2016.

• The final exam can be done since February 2017 forword, in any case after the written test. Before the final exam students have to register their name on Almaesami. If they decide not to do their exam they have to unsubscribe, even in the last minute.

• From October to December 2016 the office hours are:

Monday 11.00-13.00 a.m., Zamboni Street, 32, Dept. Of Classical Philology and Italian Literature (FICLIT), office 37, III^rd Floor

Thursday 3.00-4.00 p.m., Zamboni Street, 32, Dept. Of Classical Philology and Italian Literature (FICLIT), office 37, III^rd Floor.

Since January 2017 forword the office hours are:

Tuesday 9.00-11.00 a.m., Zamboni Street, 32, Dept. Of Classical Philology and Italian Literature (FICLIT), office 37, III^rd Floor.

Wednesday 9.00-11.00 p.m., Zamboni Street, 32, Dept. Of Classical Philology and Italian Literature (FICLIT), office 37, III^rd Floor.

• Since October to December 2016 there are also two seminars:

prof. Bruno Capaci, seminar about the written test (Thursday 3.00-4.00 p.m., Centotrecento Street, 18, room C);

prof. Francesco Ferretti, seminar about Dante’s Comedy (Thursday 4.00-5.00 p.m., Centotrecento Street, 18, room C).

They begin on Thursday, October, 6th.

These seminars are very much recommeded because they are a very useful didactic activity.

Readings/Bibliography

See the complete bibliography above in the Course contents.

Specific topic:

two books: about Baroque age and Galileo;

three works of Seventeenth-Century authors (Antology of Italian poets; T. Accetto; Galileo).

General part:

One of the three parts of Dante's Comedy;

One work of the first part of the Italian literature and the period when it was written;

One work of the second part of the Italian literature and the period when it was written.

Teaching methods

Lessons;

Lectures and notes to the texts;

Critical Discussions;

Papers.

Assessment methods

- Written test (about an historical theme of italian literature, or an analysis of a literary work).

The written test has to be done before the oral exam. It is not preclusive. Students can choose one theme among five of five different periods of the Italian literature, in four hour time. The written test can be done on January, March, April, May, or September.
Students have to show how to comment and interpret literary works from the stylistic and rhetoric point of view (and metric too, if they are poetic texts),  and to set them critically in their historical-literary context.

Beside this, they must also have a good command of the italian language in its written from an ortographical, lexical  and a syntactical point of view. They have also to know punctuation.

- Final exam
The final exam consists of an oral exam about the two parts of the program: the specific topic, or monographic course (about Baroque age and Galileo), and the general part, or institutional part.

The exam sessions are eleven a year: every month except August.

Students can do their final exam in one session; anyway they can also divide it in two parts in two different sessions. Students can divide their exam in two times in this way: at first they can do the exam of the general part, then, in another time, they can do the exam of the specific topic. It is not possible to do the exam of the specific topic before the exam of the general part.

The exam sessions are eleven a year: every month except August.

The final oral exam aims to verify these students' skills:

the main theoretical matters approached throughout the class, and the knowledge of texts and essays that acted as subjects of a common consideration.
to employ this methodology to other literary texts. The knowledge of the main sources and the bibliography. A discrete command of the spoken Italian and the technical terminology of the discipline.

A bad way of exposition, even in a context of minimal notions of the program, can be judged but negatively.

A positive or excellent score (27 to 30/30, with possible distinction) corresponds to a full mastering of technical, theoretical, historical and terminological resources of Italian literature, and to a proved ability to make connections among single aspects of the course contents, and to show awareness of textual features with 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 just mechanically their ability in interpretation; a pass or low score (18 to 22/30) to students with severe lacks in one or more topics or exercises, or not enough accurate while they use or quote notions and samples. A negative score is to be assigned to students who are not able to recall general notions in a sample of text and/or in general.

Teaching tools

- Books

- Seminars

- Workshops.

Most of the material will be covered in class lectures; it is important that you attend class and take accurate notes.

This material will be posted, and can be seen, through  username and password, in AMS Campus - AlmaDL - University of Bologna.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Battistini