13800 - Italian Literature in the Renaissance

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are expected to acquire: a sound knowledge of a specific cultural context (the Italian Renaissance) through the reading of literary texts in an interdisciplinary perspective; the ability to analyse and interpret literary texts (in linguistic, rethorical and philological perspective)

Course contents

The course is divided in two parts: the first part will be dedicated to a discussion of the 'Renaissance' as a cultural context (1 lesson) and historical category (2 lessons) as well as to crucial themes and authors of the period, from the end of the XV Century to the end of the XVI Century (12 lessons). The themes that will be pointed out in this first part of the course will be:

• The XV Century roots of the Renaissance;
• The new places of the knowledge, the main characters, the new institutions: the print, the Academies, the courts, the Universities, the censorship;
• The concept of imitation: imitatio/aemulatio;
• The debate about language as example of relationship between classics and moderns;
• The Petrarchism and its variations;
• The storytelling ('novella') after Boccaccio's Decameron;
  
• The courtly and behavioral treatises;
• The political treatises;
• The love treatises;
  
• Epic poems from Ariosto to Tasso;
• The rediscovery of Aristotele’s Poetica and the discussion above epic poem;
• The Counter-Renaissance.
  

The second module will instead be dedicated to the deepening of a specific theme: "Prince's friends and advisers: Alberti, Pontano, Machiavelli". The political treatment of the "Specula principis" has a long and glorious tradition which began in antiquity and has been revived since at least the XIV Century. It was dismissed in a few words by Niccolò Machiavelli, who in his masterpiece, De principatibus (1513), founded modern political science in stark contrast to what had been written on the subject before him («And many men have imagined republics and principalities that have never been seen or known to be true; because living this life and living according to justice is so different that he who leaves what generally do for what he should do, learns more quickly the ruin that his perservation"). Recovering that tradition of political treaties, where humanists-courtiers went out of their way to give government advice to their lord - so that he could see himself, 'mirror' himself, and self-evaluate, in the donated work - is not simply an erudite operation, but allows us to re-read the Machiavellian treatise from a different perspective, and to appreciate it further. Especially if behind the advice of the "acutissimo Segretario" we can see the shadow of a brilliant, multifaceted and bizarre humanist whose contribution would be expected everywhere but not in this field: Leon Battista Alberti.

The course will begin on February 3, 2021. Lessons will be held on Wednesdays from 9 to 11, on Thursdays from 13 to 15 and on Fridays from 15 to 17. The classrooms will be communicated later.

Readings/Bibliography

1) FIRST MODULE

For the first part of the course students are expected to know:

a The fundamental features of the history of Italian literature of the end of XV and all the XVI Century. Recommended texts:

La letteratura italiana, diretta da Ezio Raimondi: Dalle origini al Cinquecento, a cura di L. Chines, G. Forni, G. Ledda, E. Menetti, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2007, capitoli 6-11;

G. Alfano, C. Gigante, E. Russo, Il Rinascimento, Roma, Salerno ed., 2016 (all the book with the exception of the final "Schede").

b Students are required to prepare at least one of the following books (at least two for non-attending students):

1. Eugenio Garin, La cultura del Rinascimento, Bari, Laterza, 1967;
2. Jacob Burckhardt,La civiltà del Rinascimento in Italia, Firenze, Sansoni, 2000;
3. Gian Mario Anselmi, L'età dell'Umanesimo e del Rinascimento. Le radici italiane dell'Europa Moderna, Carocci, Roma, 2008 (capitoli 9-15);
4. Lina Bolzoni, Il cuore di cristallo. Ragionamenti d'amore, poesia e ritratto nel Rinascimento, Torino, Einaudi, 2010 (two of the four parts are mandatory);
5. Nicola Gardini, Storia e maestri di un’idea italiana, Milano, Garzanti, 2019.

c Full reading (unless otherwise indicated) of at least one of the following works (two for non-attending students):

- Poliziano, Stanze per la giostra (ed. a cura di F. Bausi: Manziana 1997; Utet 2006; Messina 2016);

- Bembo, Asolani (a cura di C. Dilemmi, ed. Accademia della Crusca; a cura di C. Dionisotti, ed. Utet o TEA) o Prose della volgar lingua (a cura di C. Dionisotti, ed. Utet o TEA);

- Machiavelli, Il principe (ed. a cura di G. Pedullà, Donzelli 2013);

- Ariosto, Orlando furioso, (10 canti a scelta; ed. a cura di Bigi - Zampese, Bur, 2016 o successive ristampe);

- Guicciardini, Ricordi (a cura di C. Varotti, Roma, Carocci, 2013)

- Castiglione, Il cortegiano (a cura di A. Quondam, ed. Garzanti)

- Folengo, Baldus (ed. consigliata a cura di M. Chiesa, ed. Utet)

- Bandello, Novelle (si consiglia l’antologia curata da E. Menetti, Milano, Bur, 2011;

- Aretino, Sei giornate (Ragionamento-Dialogo, a cura di Bàrberi-Squarotti - Forno, Bur 1988; 2001)

- Tasso, Gerusalemme liberata (10 canti a scelta; a cura di F. Tomasi, Bur 2009 o successive edizioni)

 

2) SECOND MODULE

Mandatory: D. Canfora, Prima di Machiavelli. Politica e cultura in età umanistica, Bari, Laterza, 2005.

In addition, the student is required to read in depth two of the following three texts on which the lessons of the monographic course will focus (all three for non-attending students). If the choice of point 1c fell on Machiavelli, the reading of Alberti and Pontano is mandatory for this point.

- L.B. Alberti, Momus (Costa & Nolan edition, 1986 or Mondadori 2007), with related essays provided by professor;

-G. Pontano, De principe, a cura di M.G. Cappelli, Roma, Salerno ed., 2003, with related essays provided by professor;

- N. Machiavelli, Il principe, a cura di G. Pedullà, con traduzione a fronte in italiano moderno di C. Donzelli, Roma, Donzelli, 2013, with related essays provided by professor.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons aimed at fully understanding the texts and discussing interpretative hypotheses with all the course participants.

Assessment methods

Oral exam consisting of a discussion (approx. 40-45 minutes) of both the general and the monographic section. Students are required to show the ability to discuss and interpret the assigned texts clearly and persuasively, relating them to their cultural context. Also the student's ability to express himself with clarity and language properties will be evaluated. The standard of oral expression will also be assessed.

• The lack of ability to orientate itself in the literary panorama of Renaissance culture and to recognize the fundamental characteristics of the major texts of the late 15th and 16th centuries of the program will entail negative voting;
• The student who will grasp the fundamental aspects of the works and authors proposed during the course and will recognize the fundamental questions and the salient features of the most important works of Renaissance literature and its protagonists will achieve a positive evaluation (vote: 25-28);
• An in-depth knowledge of humanistic texts and literature will imply a very good (29-30) and even excellent (30L) evaluation. To achieve excellence, a complete understanding of all the topics covered is required, and also the firm possession of the literary chronology (the dates of the major works' output of the authors treated are important), the use of precise technical terminology (in the rhetorical domain) , philological-literary, etc .. eg: to know being able to say the precise literary genre to which the mentioned works belong, or to indicate the chronological range of composition in the case of very famous works, such as L'Orlando furioso or Il Cortegiano) and, moreover , a personal critical elaboration of the acquired contents.

Teaching tools

Projection of word, pdf and ppw files.

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Severi