75839 - Seminar (1) (G-A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the seminar (an activity closely related to the objectives of the degree course) the student acquires specific skills and knowledge to deal with linguistic and/or philological and/or literary and/or historical and/or artistic themes and problems.

Course contents

Seminar: History of the idea of Europe

Prof. Giuseppina Brunetti

Contents

The course for 30 hours and for 6 credits (April 8, 2026-May 6, 2026) will be dedicated to study on the complex cultural construction of Europe. From the philological reading of selected texts, the students will know the dedicated literature and will acquire, through a critical analysis of the historical and literary sources, a specific skill, even relative to the contributions that the medieval romance tradition has procured the modern idea of literary Europe.

I. Philological reading of ancient texts (Herodotus and Greek historians, Caesar, Ovid, etc.) and modern texts (Voltaire, Montesquieu, etc.) as a historiographical texts (F. Chabod, Storia dell'idea d'Europa; M. Banniard, La genesi culturale dell'Europa etc.) dedicated to the concept of geographical, mythical and literary Europe.

II. Philological reading of modern literary texts – seen from different perspectives: ‘the poetry of war’; ‘the history of forms: poetry, story, novel’; etc. – where is possible to recognize the influence of medieval texts novels: poetry (Pound, Beckett, Pasolini, D’Elia etc.), fiction (MV Montalbán, G. Bufalino, Th. Mann, A. Byatt etc.), with readings from theatres or movies.

 

Classes will start on Wednesday 8 April, 2024

Place and course timetable:

Monday, 11:00-13:00, Via Zamboni 32, aula Alfonso Traina (second floor)

Tuesday, 11:00-13:00, Via Zamboni 32, aula Alfonso Traina (second floor)

Wednesday 11:00-13:00, Via Zamboni 34, aula Alfonso Traina (second floor)

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students (attendance is almost mandatory for a seminar), the essential basis for the preparation of the exam will be the notes of the lessons and the handout edited by the teacher available online on Virtuale.

For the preparation of the exam, the reading of 1 volume of your choice and 1 essay included in the list included in the handout are mandatory. It is also possible to write a written essay on a subject to be agreed, replacing a part of the exam (1 volume and 1 essay).

Some of the passages analysed during the lessons, in addition to the sources, will be taken from:

Volumes

M. Banniard, La genesi culturale dell’Europa, Bari, Laterza, 1994.

J. Boardman, Archeologia della nostalgia. Come i greci reinventarono il loro passato, Milano, Mondadori, 2004.

Le radici prime dell’Europa. Gli intrecci genetici, linguistici, storici, a cura di G. Bocchi, M. Ceruti, Milano, Mondadori, 2001.

P. Burke, Lingue e comunità nell’Europa moderna, Bologna, il Mulino, 2006.

L’idea di Europa, a cura di D. De Luzenberger, M. L. Pelosi, Palermo, Loffredo, 2011.

P. Cattani, Un’idea di Europa. Liberalismo, democrazia ed etica a inizio Novecento, Venezia, Marsilio, 2024.

L. Febvre, L’Europa storia di una civiltà, Roma, Donzelli, 1999.

W. Freund, Modernus e altre idee di tempo nel Medioevo, prefazione di R. Bodei, Milano, Medusa, 2001.

Identité littéraire de l’Europe. Sous la direction de M. Fumaroli, Y. Bonnefoy, H. Weinrich, M. Zink, Paris, PUF, 2000.

C. Malandrino, S. Quirico, L’idea di Europa. Storie e prospettive, Roma, Carocci, 2020

Europa: miti di identità, a cura di C. Ossola, Venezia, Marsilio, 2001.

L. Passerini, Il mito d’Europa. Radici antiche per nuovi simboli, Firenze, Giunti, 2002.

E. Said, Orientalismo. L’immagine europea dell’Oriente, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1999 [1977].

Essays

R. Antonelli, Filologia e modernità, in E. R. Curtius, Letteratura europea e medioevo latino, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1992, pp. vi-xxxiv (trad. it. a cura di A. Luzzatto, M. Candela, C. Bologna di E. R. Curtius, Europäische Literatur und lateinisches Mittelalter, Bern, Francke, 1948).

P. Bagni, Tra Europa e utopia: rileggendo ‘Mimesis’ in Memoria, storia, romanzo. Intersezioni e forme della scrittura francese medievale, a cura di G. Brunetti, in «Francofonia», 45 (2003), pp. 13-25.

B. Baldi, Enea Silvio Piccolomini e il ‘De Europa’: umanesimo, religione e politica, in «Archivio Storico Italiano», 161/4 (2003) pp. 619-683.

Au. Roncaglia, L’Europa e la Filologia romanza, in «Bulletin de la Classe des Lettres et des Sciences Morales et Politiques», VI sér., IX (1998), pp. 83-94 (trad. it. di G. Brunetti).

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the teacher in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Teaching methods

Seminar classroom meetings will be accompanied by projections from documentaries and soundtracks.

Assessment methods

- Oral examination.

The evaluation will follow the following indications:

• Not suitable: absence or strong deficiency of the basics in the ability to read and analyse texts; incompleteness of the program studied; inability to express correctly.
• Suitable: possession of the basics; good understanding of texts; critical ability to connect between different contents, correct expression.

Teaching tools

Teaching tools

Lessons can be supported by PowerPoint or short movies.

Links to other information

Course materials will be available on Virtuale; updates will be periodically announced through news posted on the professor’s site (https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/giuseppina.brunetti/).

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppina Brunetti