75839 - Seminar (1) (G-H)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the seminar (activity closely related to the goal of the degree program), the student acquires specific skills and notions to deal with linguistic and/or philological and/or literary and/or historical and/or artistic issues.

Course contents

The seminar includes 15 meetings, during which we will give a theoretical overview of the debate around the issue of ecocriticism, and then analyse some texts from contemporary literature considered to be of particular relevance. The key words on which we plan to reason together, through literature, are 'ecology', 'anthropocene', 'nature', 'human'.

We will see how, starting from the concept of ecological crisis (which also becomes cognitive, relating to the paradigm of thought), the traditional tools of literary criticism are now obsolete, thus requiring the most recent anthropological, social and philosophical thoughts. The texts presented will therefore be read by interweaving multiple points of view, ways of thinking and imaginaries.

How does literature rethink and explore the question of the human being situated on a planet Earth that is no longer defenceless and objective, but capable of reacting, even in unpredictable ways? How do the chosen texts bear witness to the paradoxical experience of finding ourselves - as earthbound - contingent, improbable, but at the same time capable of situating ourselves and establishing connections?

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography:

- C. Benedetti, La letteratura ci salverà dall’estinzione, Einaudi, Torino 2021 (sections outlined in class).

- S. Iovino, Ecologia letteraria. Una strategia di sopravvivenza, Edizioni Ambiente, Milano 2006 (sections outlined in class).

- N. Scaffai, Letteratura e ecologia. Forme e temi di una relazione narrativa, Carocci, Roma 2017 (sections outlined in class).

- E. Attanasio, Divenire drago: esplorazioni nell'opera di Ortese, Pendragon, Bologna 2022 (sections outlined in class).

Readings:

- C. Lispector, La passione secondo G. H. [1964], Feltrinelli, Milano 1991.

- A. M. Ortese, L’Iguana [1965], Adelphi, Milano 1986.

- A. M. Ortese, Corpo celeste, Adelphi, Milano 1997 (sections outlined in class).

- A. M. Ortese, Le piccole persone. In difesa degli animali e altri scritti, a cura di A. Borghesi, Adelphi, Milano 2016 (sections outlined in class).

- L. Pugno, La ragazza selvaggia, Marsilio, Venezia 2016.

- B. Zannoni, I miei stupidi intenti, Sellerio, Palermo 2021.

Teaching methods

The seminar will take place in a 'collective' (workshop) format, with the active participation of everyone.

Guests of the course will be a number of scholars from the Environmental Humanities, who will bring valuable contributions on issues such as ecofeminism, the human-animal relationship, anthropomorphism, and multiple temporalities.

In addition to the texts indicated below in the bibliography, other short essays will be provided.

To apply for the seminar, please send an e-mail to elisa.attanasio2@unibo.it by 20 March 2023.

Assessment methods

The last two meetings will be devoted to oral presentations by the participants, which will constitute the main assessment, combined with active participation in the seminar.

Both the skills acquired during the course and the capacity for analysis and critical reflection will be tested.

 

Teaching tools

Handout, PowerPoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Elisa Attanasio