98890 - COMPARATIVE LITERATURE 2

Learning outcomes

This course aims to provide students with a general overview of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. These skills will be reinforced by the analysis of specific authors, texts or themes. At the end of the course students will know the general principles of Comparative Literature and Literary Theory. Students will also be able to understand and examine literary texts, discussing their theoretical and historical-literary features. Furthermore, students will acquire the ability to deal with interpretative problems, showing awareness of the different methodological perspectives. Finally, they will improve their hermeneutical skills and their ability to dialog with different cultures.

Course contents

BAES students are reminded that the course of Comparative Literature 2 is offered only at the Forlì Campus.

The BAES study plan awards 6 ETCS for the course of Comparative Literature 2.

In order to reach 6 ECTS, BAES students should attend all lectures and carry out the final exam, as every other student enrolled in the course.

Further information will be provided in class at the beginning of the course.

The course will focus on the ways in which India (but in more general terms 'the East') was perceived and represented by some European writers, such as Guido Gozzano and Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italian literature), Pierre Loti (French literature), Hermann Hesse (German literature), Edward Morgan Forster (English Literature). Some of them mythologized the East on the basis of their own readings and imagination, and then were disappointed at the moment of the real journey; others projected on that different reality an instance of escape from the industrialized West, being in search of an authenticity that, in their opinion, Europe had lost. Only in a few cases the view of European authors was free from some kind of prejudice.

Readings/Bibliography

All students will read the following three books:

- G. Gozzano, Poesie, ed. G. Leonelli, Garzanti 2019 [seleceted poems will be indicated during the course; their complete list will be released here at the end of the course].

- G. Gozzano, Verso la cuna del mondo. Lettere dall'India, ed. R. Carnero, Bompiani 2008 [students are asked to study this specific edition, including the introductory essay and afterword]

- P.P. Pasolini, L'odore dell'India, Garzanti 2015.

Each student will read at least one of the following books:

- P. Loti, L'Inde (sans les Anglais), Kailash 1997 [L'India (senza gli inglesi), EDT 1996].

- H. Hesse, Aus Indien, Suhrkamp Verlag 1980 [Dall'India, ed. E. Potthoff, Mondadori 1990].

- E.M. Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin Classics 2005 [Passaggio in India, Mondadori 2017).

FURTHER READING FOR NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS

Non-attending students will read one of the following books:

- E.W. Said, Orientalism, Penguin Classics, 2003 [Orientalismo. L'immagine europea dell'Oriente, Feltrinelli 2013].

- L. Lowe, Critical Terrains. French and British Orientalism, Cornell UP 1991.

Teaching methods

Lectures, text analysis and commentary, use of multimedia products.

Assessment methods

The final exam will consist of a written test. The objectives of the test will be related to the measurement of the learning outcomes expected by the students; the contents of the test will concern the topics covered in the course; the assessment method will consist of an essay about a particular topic covered by the course, to be processed in 60 minutes; evaluation method: overall grade out of thirty. There are no intermediate or partial tests.

Evaluation grid

30-28: in-depth knowledge of the course contents; language that is always exact and precise and of excellent argumentative clarity (the attribution of distinction presupposes, in addition to the previous requirements, a strong and original personal reworking);

27-26: in-depth knowledge of the contents; language mostly exact and congruous and of good argumentative clarity;

25-24: discrete knowledge of the contents; overall correct language, even if characterized by some inaccuracies;

23-21: sufficient knowledge of the course topics; language not always correct; presence of excessive simplifications of concepts;

20-18: overall sufficient knowledge, even if sometimes incomplete, of the contents; incorrect language, characterized by generalizations, inconsistencies and trivializations of concepts;

test not passed: serious gaps in the preparation that testify an overall insufficient knowledge of the course contents and/or incorrect and inadequate critical language with frequent misunderstandings.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Carnero