30931 - Italian Literature 1 (GR. D)

Learning outcomes

Students will achieve an exhaustive knowledge of Italian Literature from XIV to XVI centuries.

Course contents

The course of Italian Literature, divided in two units, will focus on Medieval and Renaissance literature. The second unit will particularly analyse Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. Furthermore students are requested to achieve an appropriate knowledge on Italian literature from XIII to XVI century (from Sicilian poetry until Torquato Tasso). Within the course students are also requested to read Dante Alighieri's Inferno, cantos I-X.

Readings/Bibliography

First unit

History of Italian literature (XIII-XVI Centuries)

To acquire a competent knowledge of Italian literature history students are requested to read the following texts:

ANDREA BATTISTINI (ed.), Letteratura italiana, volume 1: Dalle origini al Seicento, Bologna, il Mulino, 2014, pages 19-410;
GIANCARLO ALFANO - PAOLA ITALIA - EMILIO RUSSO - FRANCO TOMASI, Letteratura italiana. Dalle Origini a metà Cinquecento, Firenze, Mondadori Università, 2018.

 

Second unit (research section)

Niccolò Machiavelli between politics and literature

Students are requested to carefully read Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince in a recent annoted edition (further indications will be given during lectures)

The text, without notes, is available on the following web sites:

www.letteraturaitaliana.net

www.bibliotecaitaliana.it

www.liberliber.it

LITERARY CRITICISM

JOHN P. McCORMICK, Reading Machiavelli, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2019

Students who will not attend classes are requested to read the following text:

QUENTIN SKINNER, Machiavelli. A very short introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2019.

It is also requested the reading of DANTE ALIGHIERI's Inferno, cantos I-X. The following updated editions are recommended: E. PASQUINI - A. QUAGLIO (eds.), Milano, Garzanti, 1988; B. GARAVELLI - L. MAGUGLINI (eds.), Milano, BUR, 2000; T. DI SALVO (ed.), Bologna, Zanichelli, 2003; A. M. CHIAVACCI LEONARDI (ed.), Milano, Mondadori, 2007; P. STOPPELLI (ed.), Bologna, Zanichelli, 2008.

Text and commentaries are also available on the web site dante.dartmouth.edu

Teaching methods

Lectures on courses themes, connected with information about bibliographical references, using pc, web sites, slides, overhead projector.

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.

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

The following is a list of some helpful web sites. Some of them will be visited during the course.

www.bibliotecaitaliana.it

www.danteonline.it

dante.dartmouth.edu

www.darwinbooks.it

letteritaliana.weebly.com

www.letteraturaitaliana.net

www.liberliber.it

www.treccani.it

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Sberlati