31334 - French Literature 3

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired in-depth knowledge about various aspects and problems regarding literary history. The student will have a sound knowledge of the individual authors and works, and will be able to evaluate the literary quality of the works that have been studied, analyzing the texts according to specific critical mothodologies. During the course, the students will have acquired the skills necessary to recognize the formal components, themes and styles of each individual author and to connect them to a precise historical and cultural context. The student will have acquired the ability to comment on, translate and present the contents of the works that have been studied from the point of view of language, history and philology.

Course contents

The title of this course is "De Dada au Surréalisme" and is divided into two components held respectively by professor Daniela Gallingani and professor Riccardo Campi. The course aims to furnish the students with the necessary historical and critical skills to contextualize the Dadaist and the Surrealist movements in the  19th century avantgarde context and to understand the scope represented by these two movements, not only in an articistic-literary milieux, during the 1920's and 1930's.
 A number of literay aspects will be examined, especially with regard to Surrealism, in that it represented a major turning point in the history of contemporary literature; a number of other aspects that were hallmarks of the spirit and the activities of this movement will also be illustrated, in particular the Surrealist interest, right from the outset, in mysticism, psychoanalysis and politics.
The first module will therefore examine the two movements from an historical point of view, discussing the forms in which they were articulated, placards, journals, films, etc.. The second module will be dedicated to the presentation and the critical reading of works by dadaist and surrealist authors.

Readings/Bibliography

Texts relating to the  2013-2014 programme for both modules   (cf. supra):
Maurice Nadeau, Histoire du Surréalisme  (Gallimard or another edition) (compulsory) André Breton, Entretiens, (Gallimard) (passages will be given by the course professor). Text chosen by the student: Lanfranco Binni, Il surrealismo, (Newton Compton); Yvonne Duplessis, Le surréalisme, ("Que sais-je") Michel Carrouges, André Breton et les données fondamentales du surréalisme, (Gallimard).
Additional reading (in the original language) by: André Breton, Manifestes du Surréalismes, (Gallimard) André Breton, Nadja, (Gallimard, "Foliothèque) André Breton, Ph. Soupault, Les Champs Magnétiques, (Gallimard, "nrf"), (passages provided by the course professor) Louis Aragon, Le paysan de Paris, (Gallimard) Philippe Soupault, Les dernières nuits de Paris, (Gallimard).
Students must have a knowledge of 20th century literary history. The Course textbook will be communicated to the students during the course.

Teaching methods

In both of the modules the course will be held mainly in lecture form. To encourage student participation and engagement, 20th century-specialist collegaues from French Universities will be invited, also in collaboration with Alliance Francaise of Bologna; these lessons will be held in a seminar format.

Assessment methods

The exam is the same for both modules (which are complementary). During the oral exam, held in French, the student will be tested on his/her knowledge of the relevant historical-literary period (20th century), and in more detail the knowledge of the history of two avangarde movements discussed in the course, Dadaism and Surrealism, with particular focus on their evolution and the forms through which they are expressed (placards, journals, pamphlets).
The student's in-depth knowledge of the works of the individual authors examined during the lessons and in the bibliography will be tested in order to ascertain his/her critical-interpretative ability.
Thus, an in-depth knowledge of the historical development of the two literary movements, along with the ability to correctly interpret the texts and the ability to describe their contents correctlyy in French will be awarded a mark of excellence. A purely descriptive ability in presenting the historical-literary problems or critical reading of each single text, will be awarded a 'fair' pass mark. The inability to create a logical and descriptive connection between cultural phenomena and literary works will not be awarded a pass mark.

Teaching tools

Teaching materials will be provided to the students online. Pages of texts, images and videos wiill be shown. Summaries of the lesosns will be provided as slides on the 'materiali didattici' ('teaching materials') page.

Links to further information

http://www.bnf.gallica.fr; http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/collection.html(The international Dada Archive); http://melusine.univ-paris3.fr

Office hours

See the website of Daniela Gallingani

See the website of Riccardo Campi