30931 - Italian Literature 1 (GR. A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has a good understanding of the Italian literary tradition, knows the fundamental issues of the critical discussion about the authors and texts and is able to use the main methods of analysis of texts and contexts; he has also acquired the ability of adequately expressing himself in writing.

Course contents

Satan and Literature

Even in Italian literature, the figure of Satan (with his variants of the Devil, Demon, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, and others) plays a central and complex role, representing the paradigm of evil and the archetype of ancestral fears in Christian and Western culture. Although Satan's presence in the Old Testament is limited and less defined, it is from the early Christian centuries that the character establishes itself as a prominent figure, taking on increasingly complex and symbolic connotations. Over a centuries-long journey, between the Middle Ages and the 17th century, Satan is portrayed as the devil, the tempter, and the scapegoat for collective guilt, embodying the fears of a humanity struggling with sin and iniquity. Italian literature helped consolidate this image, making Satan a symbol of absolute evil and rebellion against God. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the grotesquely monstrous figure is enriched with more psychological and philosophical nuances. But it was in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that Satan was reinterpreted as a figure of rebellion and social criticism, or as a shapeless alter ego of the self, reflecting the tensions and crises of the modern era. Satan thus emerges in Italian literature as a polysemic archetype, spanning centuries and styles, embodying the fears, guilt, and contradictions of a culture that has always seen him as the symbol of evil and temptation.

Students will also be asked to read 10 cantos of their choice from Dante's Comedy: e.g. Inf. I, II, V, X, XXVI, XXXIII; Purg. I, III, XXVI; Par. I. It is recommended to appear for the exam with the list of prepared songs. Some lessons will be dedicated to the reading of Dante's cantos, to provide, in addition to the basic notions of metrics and rhetoric, models of textual analysis. For those who cannot attend the lessons it is therefore advisable to contact the teacher to arrange an appointment and obtain instructions for preparing for the exam.

Readings/Bibliography

1):

• Dante Alighieri, Inferno XXXIV.
• Niccolò Machiavelli, Belfagor arcidiavolo.
• Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata IV and XIII.
• Camillo Boito, Vade retro, Satana and Demonio muto (in Id., Senso. Nuove storielle vane).
• Giovanni Papini, Il demonio mi disse (in Id. Il tragico quotidiano).
• Ermanno Cavazzoni, Il demonio si adatta al progresso e alla stupidità del mondo moderno (in Id., Manualetto per la prossima vita).

2):

• Georges Minois, Piccola storia del diavolo.
• John Freccero, Il segno di Satana, in Id., Dante. La poetica della conversione.
• Michelangelo Picone, La Favola di Belfagor fra exemplum e novella.
• Mario Praz, Le metamorfosi di Satana.
• Fabio Danelon, Presenze di Satana nella letteratura italiana dell’Ottocento.
• Jeffrey B. Russell, Il diavolo nel mondo moderno.
• Carl G. Jung, Psicanalisi e religione.

Further bibliography will be indicated during the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures and analyses of literary texts.

Assessment methods

The assessment of the student's acquired knowledge and skills consists of an oral test designed to verify general preparation on all course topics.

During the year 6 oral tests are delivered.

The oral test consists in an oral interview which has the aim of evaluating the critical and methodological ability of the students. The students will be invited to discuss the tests on the course programme. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography in the course programme. Access to the oral test depends on having passed the written test. The final mark is not a mathematical average of the two tests.

Those students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the lessons, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence.

Those students who demonstrate 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 given a ‘fair' mark.

A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark.

Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the subject matter, inappropriate language use, lack of familiarity with the literature in the programme bibliography will not be given a pass mark.

Teaching tools

Some texts will be made available on the Internet (http://virtuale.unibo.it [http://campus.unibo.it/] )

Office hours

See the website of Fabio Giunta