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

Between classicism and mannerism. The adventure of Torquato Tasso

In the first section of the course the essential tools for reading and analyzing literary texts will be provided and the main issues of literary history about sixteenth-century genres and poetics will be discussed. The second section aims at highlighting the expressive and symbolic universe of Tasso’s Gerusalemme and the novelty of its narrative and stylistic solutions in relation to sixteenth-century and classical traditions. Some lectures will be devoted to relevant studies in the history of Tassian criticism. Non-attending students must contact the teacher to agree on the program and receive further indications.

Readings/Bibliography

Dante, Commedia, a cura di E. Pasquini-A. Quaglio, Milano, Garzanti.

Reading and commenting on a choice of 10 cantos from Dante's Comedy is required (e.g. Inf. I, II, V, X, XXVI, XXXIII; Purg. I, III, XXVI; Par. I). The site dante.dartmouth.edu is also very useful.

T. Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata (a cura di L. Caretti, Torino, Einaudi o a cura di F. Tomasi, Milano, BUR);

T. Tasso, Discorsi dell’arte poetica e del poema eroico, a cura di L. Poma, Bari, Laterza, 1964;

T. Tasso, Lettere poetiche, a cura di C. Molinari, Parma, Guanda, 1995.

M. Residori, Tasso, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2009.

Tasso’s works are available on the portal www.bibliotecaitaliana.it.

For the historical and literary contexts related to the authors examined the reference manual will be Letteratura italiana, a c. di A. Battistini, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014 (vol. I ch. VI, XIX, XX).

For the literary theory questions addressed see C. Segre, Avviamento all'analisi del testo letterario, Torino, Einaudi, 1999.

Additional critical bibliography will be provided during the course.

Teaching methods

Lectures and analyses of literary texts.

Assessment methods

The evaluation of the students' competencies and abilities acquired during the course consists in an oral test aimed at ascertaining a general knowledge of all the subjects covered during the course. 

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 )

Office hours

See the website of Giovanni Baffetti