00562 - Italian Literature (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, student will have the tools for textual exegesis (ancient and modern, edited and unpublished) within our secular literary tradition, seen as a cultural heritage and a monument to our national identity.They will know how to judge and use methods of historical analysis applied to documents of Italian literature, keeping a diachronic perspective. They will be able to logically expound and organize complex data and information, so as to formulate independent conclusions and opinions. They will organize information logically and outline it with methodological rigour, care and precision.

Course contents

MODULE A: XVI-XIX ITALIAN LITERATURE. The aim of the course is to follow the development of the Italian Literature from XVI Century to XIX Century, through some literary text, both poetical and in prose, of different periods; these texts will be studied within their historical and literary context, will be read and analyzed with students. The course will offer a method of text analysis which may be used by students also with other literary texts in order to reconstruct their historical and literary period.

After a short introduction to Literary Text, and the basics of Italian Literature methods (rethoric, prosody and stylistic), and Academic Writing, we will read and analyze some text of the following periods and authors: Tasso, “Barocco” and Marino, Goldoni, Parini, Foscolo, Manzoni, Leopardi, Nievo, Verga.

 

MODULE B: DANTE IN XIX CENTURY. On the anniversary of the 700 years since Dante's death, the course aims to retrace the various readings and interpretation that have been given of his work during the Nineteenth century, when Dante's myth blends with the national one and his fortune extends throughout Europe and the world. The study of Dante's reception in the Nineteenth century will be supported by a comparative reading of some nineteenth-century commentaries, to study, directly related to the text, how the Comedy was interpreted. CONTENTS: 1. Introduction to the Course: Modern Dante?; 2. "Il Ghibellin fuggiasco": Foscolo's Dante; 3. "Padre Dante": Leopardi; 4. Cesari’s Le bellezze della “Commedia” di Dante Alighieri (1824-1826); 5. In England: Byron, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Blake, Coleridge; 6. In Germany: from Hegel to Auerbach; 7. Dante towards Unity: from Mazzini to Balbo; 8. De Sanctis turning point; 9. The centenary of 1865; 10. Manzoni and Dante; 11. Comments in comparison (Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1826-1827); 12. Comments in comparison (Niccolò Tommaseo 1837-1869); 13. Comments in comparison (Giovanni Andrea Scartazzini 1874-1888); 14. Comments in comparison (Giacomo Poletto 1894); 15. Conclusions and presentation of the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TEXTS

Compulsory Dante's Cantos: 

Inf. 1, 5, 6, 10, 13, 15, 26, 33;

Purg. 1, 3, 5, 23, 26, 30;

Par. 1, 4, 6, 17, 30, 33.

Suggested commentaries:

A.M. Chiavacci Leonardi (Bologna, Zanichelli)

E. Pasquini-A.E. Quaglio (Milano, Garzanti)

U. Bosco- G. Reggio (Firenze, Le Monnier)

N. Sapegno (Firenze, La Nuova Italia)

R. Merlante-S. Prandi (Brescia, La Scuola)

Rossetti, Tommaseo, Scartazzini, Poletto's commentaries are available also in  Darthmouth Dante Lab: http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/reader

ESSAYS

1. Giuseppe Ledda, Leggere la Commedia, Bologna, il Mulino, 2016.

2. A. Vallone, Storia della critica dantesca dal XIV al XX secolo, Padova, Vallardi, 1981 (solo il cap. sull’Ottocento).

Two other essays chosen from a list provided at the beginning of the course and uploaded to the IOL platform.

Teaching methods

MODULE A + MODULE B Face-to-face classes and php available in IOL; all lessons will be recorded and available in IOL and STREAM platform.

Assessment methods

MODULE A: LETTERATURA ITALIANA XVI-XIX.

The MODULE A examination consists of a written test, carried out with EOL exam True/False and single answer and open-ended single answer questions, in which students must show that they know the contents of the course and their ability to rewrite and comment a literary text. During the course a specific training to the exam test will be carried out and a facsimile of the written exam test will be made available in the course materials on the IOL platform.

 

MODULE B: DANTE IN XIX CENTURY. Students can choose whether to take the module B test in written or oral form. The written form consists of a EOL exam with closed single answer questions (True/False and single answer) and open answer questions in which students must show that they know the contents of the course and the ability to paraphrase and comment on a text by Dante's Commedia among those read and commented on in class. During the course a specific training to the exam test will be carried out and a facsimile of the written exam test will be made available in the course materials on the IOL platform.

Teaching tools

MODULO A + MODULO B Power Point, Didactic materials and video-Audio recording of the lessons in TEAMS, will be available on IOL and on STREAM.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Maria Carmela Italia