02609 - Contemporary Italian Literature (A-F)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: has a non-abstract and non-manualistic awareness of the main lines of development of Italian literary culture from National Unity to the present day; knows how to apply appropriate methods of analysis to the literary text in prose and verse, distinguishing its relations with different linguistic, artistic and cultural traditions; is able to read the literary text as an open form, in dialogue with the ideological and social horizon of his time, against the background of the wider European context.

Course contents

Writers on the Road


This course addresses a topical issue: the works of writer-walkers. In recent years there are several motivations for writers to recount their experiences of urban and suburban walking: a renewed ecological sense connected to a growing concern for the condition of the planet; the need to return to nature in order to find new blood for a narrative vein that has now dried up; the desire to unearth new stories to tell on forgotten paths; redefining maps of the territory through a look closer to everyday reality as opposed to the plans drawn on paper in the projects of major national and international works; and the need to outline a possible new relationship between man and nature.


The topics addressed during the course are 1) travel narrative 2) landscape in literature 3) the ethics of walking 4) the concept of flânerie 5) ecocriticism.

Readings/Bibliography

The students have to read the following books:

 

Literary works:

• Gianni Celati, Verso la foce, Feltrinelli, 1988 (nuova edizione 2018)
• Rea, Il Po si racconta, Il saggiatore, 1996 (nuova edizione Feltrinelli 2017)
• Paolo Rumiz, Morimondo, Feltrinelli, 2013 (nuova edizione 2015)
• Vitaliano Trevisan, I quindicimila passi, Einaudi, 2002 (nuova edizione Einaudi 2015)
• Tommaso Giartosio, L’O di Roma, Laterza, 2012
• Wu Ming 2, Il Sentiero Luminoso, Ediciclo, 2016

Critical essays:

• Rebecca Solnit, Storia del camminare, Bruno Mondadori, 2002 (nuova edizione Ponte alle grazie 2018)
• Giampaolo Nuvolati, L'interpretazione dei luoghi. Flânerie come esperienza di vita, FUP, 2013
  
• Niccolò Scaffai, Letteratura e ecologia, Carocci, 2017 (cap. 6, pp. 167-218)
• Tutti i materiali didattici caricati sulla piattaforma VIRTUALE

Non-attending students add:

• Cento anni di letteratura italiana 1910-2010, a cura di Marco A. Bazzocchi, Einaudi, 2021

Teaching methods

Lessons, class discussion, active participation in class, videos, power points, movies.

Assessment methods

The written test consists - only for non-italian students - in a paper (8-10 pages) about one or more arguments of the course. The paper must be previuosly approved by the teacher and must be send with an e-mail attachment at least a week before the oral test.

The oral test consists in an oral interview to evaluating the critical and methodological ability of the students. The studentwill be invited to discuss the scheduled books. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography.

Students that have to take 6 CFU exam will arrange only the program of Modulo I or Modulo II and critical essays.

Assessment consists in an examination aiming to assess the knowledge and critical skills acquired by the candidate during the course.

1. First-class marks will be awarded to candidates who demonstrate an ability to analyse texts in depth and to produce an organic overview of the topics covered in the course. Overall mark between 27 and 30 cum laude (high linguistic ability is required).

2. A mostly mnemonic knowledge of the subject, analytical skills lacking depth, and correct but not always apposite expression will result in a modest mark. Overall mark between 23 and 26.

3. Elementary knowledge, superficial understanding, poor analytical skills, and inapposite expression will lead to a pass or only slightly higher mark. Overall mark between 18 and 22.

4. Gaps in the candidate’s knowledge, inapposite language, and inadequate engagement with the secondary literature offered in the course will result in a fail mark.

Teaching tools

In addition to lectures, held by the teacher, audiovisual tools will be used to support the teaching. Students will also be invited to bring a significant contribution to enreach the issues upon which the course focuses.

Office hours

See the website of Filippo Milani