26018 - Italian Women's Literature

Learning outcomes

The student possesses in-depth knowledge of Italian women's literature. He is able to apply practical methodologies for the analysis and the interpretation of the literary text.

Course contents

Brave Women. Writings by and on Women

The course addresses, from a conceptual and thematic point of view, the issue of writing by and on women. The first module deals with some examples of the Italian literature from XVI to XIX Century, with particular reference to Ariosto, Basile, Capuana. The second module is dedicated to Elena Ferrante's writings, on the book Io sono con te by M. Mazzucco and Amiche per la pelle by Laila Wadia.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings: L. Ariosto, Orlando furioso, I, XIX, XXIII, XXIV; G. Basile, Lo cunto de li cunti, ed. by M. Rak, Milano, Garzanti, 1998 ( I, 5 I, 9; I, 10; L. Capuana, Profumo, Milano, Mondadori, 1996; E. Ferrante, L'amore molesto, Roma, Ed. e/o, 1992; E. Ferrante, My Brilliant friend, vol. 1, Roma, E/O, 2011; M. Mazzucco, Io sono con te. Storia di Brigitte, Torino, Einaudi, 2016; L. Wadia, Amiche per la pelle, Roma, e/o, 2007.

Programme Gemma and Letterature moderne, comparate e postcoloniali: E. Ferrante, L’amore molesto, Roma, Ed. e/o, 1992.; the first vol. of My brilliant friend, Roma, Ed. e/o, 2017; M. Mazzucco, Io sono con te. Storia di Brigitte, Torino, Einaudi, 2016; L. Wadia, Amiche per la pelle, Roma, e/o, 2007.

Bibliography:

 L. Michelacci, Il microscopio e l’allucinazione. Luigi Capuana fra letteratura, scienza e anomalia, Bologna, Pendragon, 2015, pp. 79-115. E. Comoy Fusaro, La nevrosi tra medicina e letteratura: approccio epistemologico alle malattie nervose nella narrativa italiana, 1865-1922, Firenze, Polistampa, chap. 1  (the book is available on-line using the proxy).

R. Mazzanti, Madri e figlie in Elena Ferrante, in Crispino A. M., Vitale M. (edited by), Dell’ambivalenza. Dinamiche di narrazione in Elena Ferrante, Julie Otsuka e Goliarda Sapienza, Roma, Iacobelli editore, 2016, pp. 88-104 e A. Pirri, Elena Ferrante: nomi e corpi ambivalenti, in in Crispino A. M., Vitale M. (edited by), Dell’ambivalenza. Dinamiche di narrazione cit., pp. 56-73.

N. Marchais, Dalla difficoltà all'impossibilità di diventare madre nella letteratura femminile contemporanea, in Madri: figure e figurazioni nella letteratura italiana contemporanea, Avellino, Sinestesie, 2014, pp. 285-329; T. De Rogatis, L’amore molesto di Elena Ferrante. Mito classico, riti di iniziazione e identità femminile, «Allegoria», 69-70, XXVI, 2014, pp. 273-308. T. de Rogatis, Elena Ferrante. Parole chiave, Roma, E/O, ©2018, pp. 27-54.U. Fracassa, Nuove frontiere della letteratura italiana della migrazione, in "Scritture migranti", 11 (2017), pp. 231-266; Leggere il testo e il mondo: vent'anni di scritture della migrazione in Italia, a cura di F. Pezzarossa Fulvio, I. Rossini, Cueb, 2011, Bologna (the essays by Pezzarossa, Benvenuti, Fracassa).

Students of the Master Gemma and of Letterature moderne, comparate e postcoloniali will read only the essays regarding the second part of the programme.

Teaching methods

The course will be divided in frontal lessons and laboratories on the texts. Attendance at the Congress: Women's writings in Italy (San Giorgio in Poggiale, Bologna, November 19/20th 2019)  in an integral part of this course.

Assessment methods

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

Audio and video aids may be used in support of lectures.

Office hours

See the website of Lara Michelacci