08846 - Comparative Literatures (M-Z)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course in Comparative literatures, via the careful analysis of significant works of western literature, students acquire the knowledge allowing them to deal with some of the main methodological nuclei of comparative studies; from the examination of the close intertwining existing between different national cultures, to the study of the complex relationships between literature and other languages (be they those of science, philosophy or criticism, or expressive ones such as painting, music, photography, theatre, cinema), up to the reconstruction of the recurrence of long lasting literary themes, spanning multiple nationalities.

Course contents

Grotesque Masks in the XIX century literature

«In the modern day school of thought, the term "Grotesque"- says Hugo in the Cromwell preface- plays a very important role. The term is found everywhere. On one side, it is used to describe what is abnormal and horrible and on the other side it is used to describe something comical and burlesque».

Starting from the interpretation of this text, which is considered the European Romanticism "Manifesto", this course aims at examining the metamorphosis of the meaning of the term "Grotesque " and what it represents in the light of the traumatic events caused by the French revolution. It is this event that traces the roots of the horror that contaminates, devours,and deforms anything, and that is continuously evoked in the mindset of the XIX century.

It is not by chance that phenomena like hallucinations, nightmares, deliria, splitting of personality, studied by psychiatry became the privileged rhetorical artifices used by authors of the time to stage the unspeakable; the decisive bond between bloodshed and illness, violence and aberration, uncontrollable impulses and anomalies,where tragic events marry into what is monstrous, revealing its grotesque sides.

Readings/Bibliography

Narrative Texts

V. Hugo, Prefazione a Cromwell, in Tutto il teatro, Rizzoli, Milano 1962, vol. I.

V. Hugo, L’ultimo giorno di un condannato, Feltrinelli, Milano 2012.

Ch. Nodier, Smarra, in I demoni della notte, Garzanti, Milano 2008; Piranesi, Pagine d’Arte, Milano 2002.

E. T. A. Hoffmann, L’uomo della sabbia, Mondadori, Milano 1997.

E. A. Poe, Berenice; Ligeia; Il pozzo e il pendolo, in Racconti del terrore, vol. I, Mondadori, Milano 2008.

Th. Gautier, La morte innamorata; L’hascisc; Il club dei mangiatori di hascisc; La pipa d’oppio, in Racconti fantastici, Garzanti, Milano 2011; A. Manzoni, I promessi sposi (capp. XX-XXI; XXVIII; XXXI-XXXIV), Rizzoli, Milano 2014

G. de Maupassant, L’Horla (prima e seconda versione), Rizzoli, Milano 2013.

R. L. Stevenson, Lo strano caso del Dottor Jekyll e Mr. Hyde; Un capitolo sui sogni, Mondadori, Milano 2013.

Criticism essays

D. Arasse, La ghigliottina e l'immaginario del terrore, Xenia, Milano, 1988 (pp. 75-169).

M. Bachtin, Introduzione, in L’opera di Rabelais e la cultura popolare,Einaudi, Torino 1979 (pp. 3-68).

S. Freud, Il perturbante, in Opere, vol. IX, Boringhieri, Torino 1977.

W. Kayser, Grotesque in art and literature, Weisstein, Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1963.

V. Pietrantonio, Archetipi del sottosuolo. Sogno, allucinazione, follia nella cultura francese del XIX secolo, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2012 (pp. 51-178; pp. 255-305).

As well as the theoretical texts proposed, students aiming at taking the 12 Credit exam shall have to read Victor Hugo Prefazione a Cromwell and L’ultimo giorno di un condannato; and the works by five authors amongst the nine listed).

Students aiming at taking the 6 credit exam will have to read, as well as the theoretical texts three texts chosen amongst the nine listed).

Non attending students are required to read V. Pietrantonio, Maschere grottesche. L'informe e il deforme nella letteratura dell'Ottocento, Donzelli, Roma 2018;  and  two extra narrative texts as respect to those required in the two teaching sections.

Teaching methods

The course is based upon around 60 hours of lectures: students are invited to actively take part during the lectures and debate the subjects put forward.

Assessment methods

The final exam, consisting of face to face interviews, aims at verifying knowledge acquired through the reading of the works proposed and assess students’ critical skills. The students’ capacity to navigate literary and critical texts, contextualising them appropriately, shall be evaluated. An assessment of excellence will indicate an hermeneutical capacity on the part of the student to create connections between literary and critical texts, together with ascertained expository skills. Possible gaps in knowledge on matters discussed during the course and inappropriate, or confused language will entail low marks.

Teaching tools

Lectures will make use of PPTs, as well as film viewings. Any additional teaching material shall be made available to students on the site (link ‘Teaching tools – Materiale didattico)

Office hours

See the website of Vanessa Pietrantonio