30635 - Italian Literature (LM)

Academic Year 2022/2023

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is expected to have a deep knowledge on diachronical aspects of the Italian literary tradition, knows the critical discussion on the keys issues about texts and authors and is able to use the main tools of the methodological analysis of texts and contexts.

Course contents

Feminine Power. From the Demonic to the Divine

The course deals with female power in literature from a conceptual and thematic point of view. The first part is devoted to: G. B. Basile, Lo cunto de li cunti (I, 9); Boito, Senso; Verga, La lupa. The second part focuses on the writings of G. Deledda, G. Sapienza, M. R. Cutrufelli.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings: G. Basile, Lo cunto de li cunti, edited by M. Rak, Milan, Garzanti, 1998 ( I, 9); C. Boito, Senso, edited by C. Bertoni, Lecce, Manni, 2002; G. Verga, La lupa, introductory note by F. Portinari, Turin, Einaudi, 1982; G. Deledda, La madre, with an introduction to the work by V. Spinazzola, Milano, Mondadori, 1967; G. Sapienza, Arte della gioia, Torino, Einaudi, 2008; G. Deledda, La Madre, Roma, Ed. e/o, 1992; M. R. Cutrufelli, L'isola delle madri, Milano, Mondadori, 2020 and Cutrufelli, Maria Giudice: la leonessa del socialismo, Roma, Perrone, 2022

Programme Gemma and Letterature moderne, comparate e postcoloniali: eledda, La madre, Milano, Mondadori, 1967; G. Sapienza, Arte della gioia, Torino, Einaudi, 2008; G. Deledda, La Madre, Roma, Ed. e/o, 1992; M. R. Cutrufelli, L'isola delle madri, Milano, Mondadori, 2020 and Cutrufelli, Maria Giudice: la leonessa del socialismo, Roma, Perrone, 2022.

Bibliography:

Giovanbattista Basile e l'invenzione della fiaba, edited by M. Picone and A. Messerli, Ravenna, Longo, 2004 (essays by M. Rak and M. Picone); E. Porciani, Camillo Boito's "Senso": narrative desire and unreliable tale, "Filologia antica e moderna", 21, 2001, pp. 99-118. G. Baldi, La Lupa e la scomparsa del mito, in Reietti e superuomini in scena: Verga e D'Annunzio drammaturghi, Napoli, Liguori, 2009, pp. 59-71 (available online in Ateneo resources). Wafaa El Beih, Il tragico ne La madre di Grazia Deledda, in Rivista di letteratura italiana: XXVII, 2, 2009, pp. 31-41 (available online in Ateneo resources). A. Bazzoni, Writing for freedom: body, identity and power in Goliarda Sapienza's Narrative, Oxford, Lang, 2018 (chap. 2). M. Rizzarelli, Goliarda Sapienza: gli spazi della libertà, il tempo della gioia, Rome, Carocci, 2018 (chap. 1 and 2); Crispino A. M., Vitale M. (eds.), Dell'ambivalenza. Dinamiche di narrazione in Elena Ferrante, Julie Otsuka e Goliarda Sapienza, Roma, Iacobelli editore, 2016, pages on Goliarda Sapienza: pp. 35-55 (Curti); pp. 120-133 (P. Bono), pp. 149-163 (A.A Ferrante)..

C. Imberty, Gender and literary genres: the case of Goliarda Sapienza, in "Narrativa", 30, 2008, pp. 51-61; Ch. Ross, Gender identity in the works of G. Sapienza: necessarily queer fictions, in "Quel sogno d'essere" nell'opera di G. Sapienza. Percorsi critici nel kaleidoscopio artistico di una delle maggiori autrici del Novecento, edited by G. Providenti, Rome, Aracne, 2012, pp. 223-242.

Goliarda Sapienza in context: intertextual relationships with Italian and European culture,
edited by Alberica Bazzoni, Emma Bond and Katrin Wehling-Giorgi, Madison, Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 2016 (pp. 33-45; 63-73;115-127; 147-177; 215-229).
 

Students of the Master's Degree in Gemma and in Letterature moderne, comparate e postcoloniali will read only the essays regarding Deledda, Sapienza, Cutrufelli.

Teaching methods

The course will be divided in frontal lessons and laboratories on the texts.

The course is part of the project of innovative didactics of the University of Bologna and will be combine place-based formal classes with online educational materials and opportunities for interaction. Furthuer information will be given at the beginning of the 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.

Non attending students are required to do the same readings and to study the same bibliography of attending students.

Teaching tools

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


Office hours

See the website of Lara Michelacci

SDGs

Quality education Gender equality Reduced inequalities Partnerships for the goals

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