13338 - Contemporary Italian Literature (N-Z)

Academic Year 2019/2020

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student has acquired a working knowledge of wide areas of twentieth-century literary history, with special emphasis on the relation between literature and historical, social, anthropological, and more broadly cultural phenomena. Study is assisted by secondary literature and face-to-face tuition and covers close reading of the text as well as problems of form, structure, composition, and reception.

Course contents

Specific subject: Itsy-Bitsy Worlds. School System and Academics in 20th Century Italian Literature.

This course lasts 60 hours, and equals to 12 credits. It gets throughout a representation of school system and university - conceived as institutions, places of conflict, fictional worlds and subjects of historical thinking - from the end of 19th Century to the present time. This course assumes a basic knowledge of 20th Century Italian literature.

Lectures start on Monday, 23rd Sept., 2019, and go on according to the following schedule, till 19th Dec., 2019:

- Monday, 9-11 am, Room V, Via Zamboni 38;

- Tuesday, 9-11 am, Room V, Via Zamboni 38 [23rd Sept. to mid-Nov., 2019], then Pascoli Room, Via Zamboni 32 [mid-Nov. to 19th Dec., 2019];

- Thursday, 11 am-1 pm, Room VI, Via Zamboni 38 [23rd Sept. to mid-Nov., 2019], then Room II, Via Zamboni 38 [mid-Nov. to 19th Dec., 2019].

Since the beginning of the lectures, students will be allowed to enroll in this class via the Insegnamenti OnLine web site.

Readings/Bibliography

This course splits in a series of lectures and an individual study programme, which is not mandatory for Erasmus+ and Overseas students.

Lectures

Readings and discussions of narrative, poems and criticism are framed in six units as follows:

1. Edmondo De Amicis, Cuore [1886], ed. by Domenico Starnone, Milan: Feltrinelli, 2015 [even in other reprints]; Edmondo De Amicis, Amore e ginnastica [1892], ed. by Luca Scarlini, Turin: Einaudi, 2010 [even in other reprints];

2. Antonio Gramsci, Quaderno 12 [1932], in Quaderni del carcere, a critical edition by the Gramsci Institute, ed. by Valentino Gerratana, Turin: Einaudi, 1977 [and further reprints], with excerpts from Quaderni del carcere and Lettere dal carcere, available on the Insegnamenti OnLine web site;

3. Leonardo Sciascia, Le parrocchie di Regalpetra [1956], Milan: Adelphi, 1991 [even in other reprints];

4. Andrea Zanzotto, IX Ecloghe [1962]; Misteri della pedagogia, in Pasque [1973]; La maestra Morchet vive, in Fosfeni [1983]; all of them in Le poesie e prose scelte, ed. by Stefano Dal Bianco and Gian Mario Villalta, Milan: Mondadori, 1999;

5. Giorgio Cesarano, I giorni del dissenso [1968] and La notte delle barricate [1968], both in I giorni del dissenso. La notte delle barricate. Diari del 1968, Rome: Castelvecchi, 2018;

6. One text at the student's choosing among the following books: Domenico Starnone, Ex cattedra [1987], in Ex cattedra e altre storie di scuola, Milan: Feltrinelli, 2006; Walter Siti, Scuola di nudo [1994], Milan: Rizzoli, 2016; Leonardo Pica Ciamarra, Ad avere occhi per vedere, Rome: Minimum Fax, 2002; Eraldo Affinati, Via dalla pazza classe, Milan: Mondadori, 2019.

Useful directions on these and other resources will be provided throughout the lectures. Samples will be partially made available on time with a view to the exam; any other information will be available on the Insegnamenti OnLine [https://iol.unibo.it/] web site.

Unibo Students who attend the course for six credits are expected to choose and study an amount of three units on those making up the course as a whole.

Erasmus+ and Overseas exchange students who are attending the course for 6 credits will be requested to write a short essay (up to 20000 bytes) upon a specific topic related to the course programme. This topic will be negotiated with the teacher, who will assign a specific set of bibliographical references. The essay will be discussed at the oral examination session. Beyond this essay, Erasmus+ and Overseas exchange students who are attending the course for 12 credits will be requested to study at least one unit among those included in the forementioned series of lectures, and to explain it briefly during the oral examination session.

Individual Study Programme

This study programme has to be prepared individually by students. It is not mandatory for Erasmus+ and Overseas exchange students. Throughout the series of lectures some directions will be provided, and some of the texts discussed will be put in relationship with those of this individual study programme. A part of the texts will be provided in a scanned format and made available in good time with a view to the final examination. Students will be provided with any further information on the Insegnamenti OnLine web site.

Please take note that B.0 Section is mandatory for all students who are not enrolled in Erasmus+ and Overseas international programmes. As for the further sections, students should read one text at their choice, together with the related essays of criticism, picked from three sections out of the six available. Please note that it is not allowed to choose a totality of three sections of prose or three sections of poems.

 

B.0) The Origins of Modernity - Texts

- Giacomo Leopardi, Canti, Milan: Rizzoli, 1998 [Bruto minore, Ultimo canto di Saffo, Alla sua donna, Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell’Asia, A se stesso, Aspasia, La ginestra];

- Giacomo Leopardi, Operette morali, Milan: Rizzoli, 2008 [Dialogo della moda e della morte, Dialogo di Torquato Tasso e del suo genio familiare, Dialogo della natura e di un islandese, Cantico del Gallo Silvestre, Dialogo di Federico Ruysch e delle sue mummie, Dialogo di Tristano e di un amico];

- Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi, Turin: Einaudi, 2015 [chapters 1, 2, 8, 37, 38].

B.0) The Origins of Modernity - Criticism

Marco Antonio Bazzocchi, Leopardi, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2008 [the sections devoted to the Canti and Operette morali mentioned above].

 

B.1) Avant-garde and Experimental Literature - Poems

- Aldo Palazzeschi, L’incendiario, Milan: Mondadori, 2001;

- Guido Gozzano, I colloqui, in Tutte le poesie, Milan: Mondadori, 2016;

- Clemente Rebora, Frammenti lirici, Novara: Interlinea, 2008;

- Dino Campana, Canti orfici e altre poesie, Milan: Garzanti, 2007.

B.1) Avant-garde and Experimental Literature - Criticism

- Niva Lorenzini, Le tensioni del nuovo, in La poesia italiana del Novecento, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2018.

 

B.2) Poetry of the Early 20th Century - Poems

- Giuseppe Ungaretti, L'Allegria, in Vita d’un uomo. Tutte le poesie, Mondadori, Milano 2009; related criticism: Guido Guglielmi, Interpretazione di Ungaretti, Bologna: Il Mulino, 1999;

- Eugenio Montale, Le occasioni, ed. by Tiziana De Rogatis, Mondadori, Milano 2018; related criticism: Introduzione and commentary Tiziana De Rogatis in this edition;

- Umberto Saba, Mediterranee, in Il canzoniere, Turin: Einaudi, 2014; related criticism: Giacomo Debenedetti, Poesia italiana del Novecento, Milan: Garzanti, 1989.

 

B.3) The Neorealismo and the Armed Resistance - Prose

- Elio Vittorini, Uomini e no, Milan: Mondadori, 2016;

- Renata Viganò, L'Agnese va a morire, Turin: Einaudi, 2014;

- Beppe Fenoglio, Una questione privata, Turin: Einaudi, 2014;

- Italo Calvino, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Milan: Mondadori, 2014;

- Primo Levi, La tregua, Turin: Einaudi, 2014.

B.3) The Neorealismo and the Armed Resistance - Criticism

- Giulio Ferroni, Nel tempo del neorealismo, in Storia della letteratura italiana. Il Novecento e il nuovo millennio, Milan: Mondadori, 2012, pp. 373-412.

 

B.4) Literature and Riot Movements - Prose

- Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Altri libertini, Milan: Feltrinelli, 2013;

- Elsa Morante, Il mondo salvato dai ragazzini, Turin: Einaudi, 2012;

- Natalia Ginzburg, Caro Michele, Turin: Einaudi, 2006;

- Enrico Palandri, Boccalone. Storia vera piena di bugie, Milan: Bompiani, 2000;

- Gianni Celati, Comiche, Macerata: Quodlibet, 2012.

B.4) Literature and Riot Movements - Criticism

- Alice disambientata, ed. by Gianni Celati, Florence: Le Lettere, 2007.

 

B.5) The Postmodern Context - Prose

- Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa, Milan: Bompiani, 2018;

- Italo Calvino, Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore, Milan: Mondadori, 2016;

- Antonio Tabucchi, Il gioco del rovescio e altri racconti, Milan: Feltrinelli, 2013.

B.5) The Postmodern Context - Criticism

- Raffaele Donnarumma, Postmoderno italiano: un’introduzione, in Il romanzo contemporaneo. Voci italiane?, ed. by Franca Pellegrini and Elisabetta Tarantino, Leicester: Troubadour, 2006.

 

B.6) The Late 20th Century Poetry - Poems

- Vittorio Sereni, Gli strumenti umani, Milan: Il Saggiatore, 2018;

- Pier Paolo Pasolini, Le ceneri di Gramsci, Milan: Garzanti, 2015;

- Milo De Angelis, Somiglianze, in Tutte le poesie, Milan: Mondadori, 2017;

- Amelia Rosselli, Serie ospedaliera, in Le poesie, Milan: Garzanti, 1999;

- Dopo la lirica, ed. by Enrico Testa, Turin: Einaudi, 2005.

B.6) The Late 20th Century Poetry - Criticism 

- Niva Lorenzini, Dopo la lirica, in La poesia italiana del Novecento, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2018.

Unibo Students who attend the course for six credits are expected to choose and study one unit at their choice, by picking up a single text combined with an essay, plus the B.0 Section on those making up the Individual Study Programme as a whole.

For Erasmus+ and Overseas students, as specified above, the preparation of the Individual Study Programme is not mandatory.


Teaching methods

Traditional lectures with a strong interaction between students and teacher.

Assessment methods

The final exam consists of an oral appointment, which aims to verify some methodological, personally developed skills. It lasts approx. 20 minutes, split in two parts. The first one focuses on the main theoretical matters approached throughout the class, verifiyng the preparation upon at least two units among those included in the study programme. The second one will consist of the brief exposition of an individual in-depth analysis, even previously submitted in a written sample, upon a review, a topic or a period included in the study programme itself. 

A positive or excellent score (27 to 30/30, with possible distinction) corresponds to a full mastering of technical, theoretical, historical and terminological resources of Twentieth-Century and contemporary literature, and to a proved ability to make connections among single aspects of the course contents, and to show awareness of textual features with appropriate language; an average score (23 to 26/30) goes to students who reveal some lacks in one or more topics or analytical proofs, or are able to use just mechanically their ability in interpretation; a pass or low score (18 to 22/30) to students with severe lacks in one or more topics or exercises, or not enough accurate while they use or quote notions and samples. A negative score is to be assigned to students who are not able to recall general notions in a sample of text and/or in general.

Exam sessions take place once in a month, and are scheduled in turns. Students must sign up at the AlmaEsami web site (https://almaesami.unibo.it). The registration ends two days before the oral examination.

Teaching tools

Excerpts from texts and criticism in digital scans.

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Colangelo

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.