31043 - Spanish Literature 1

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should know the general outline of literary history. They should be able to read, understand and translate texts from Spanish into Italian and they should also be acquainted with the methods and analytical tools they need to interpret the works of the main authors, contextualising them within their cultural and historical period.

Course contents

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY SPANISH LITERATURE

The course will examine the historical period from the eighteenth century to the present day and will be based mainly on the study of literary representations of the idea of reality, its constitution, evolution, negation and fragmentation also through specific in-depth studies. Texts by Leandro Fernández de Moratín, Benito Pérez Galdós, Miguel de Unamuno, Federico García Lorca, Jesús Fernández Santos, Carmen Martín Gaite, Juan José Millás, will be analyzed through historical, philosophical and literary theory instruments. There will also be in-depth discussions on the following themes: Enlightenment, neoclassicism, realism, naturalism, existentialism, avant-garde, civil war, Francoism, neorealism, post-modernity.

Readings/Bibliography

MAIN TEXTS:

Leandro Fernández de Moratín, La commedia nuova (con testo a fronte), Roma, Castelvecchi, 2020 (edited by Luigi Contadini)

Benito Pérez Galdós, Marianela, Madrid, Cátedra (edited by Francisco Caudet)

Miguel de Unamuno, Niebla, Madrid, Cátedra (edited by Mario J. Valdés)

Federico García Lorca, selection of poems (they will be indicated and made available during the course)

Carmen Martín Gaite, El cuarto de atrás, Madrid, Cátedra (edited by José Teruel)

Further references will be made available on-line in the file "MATERIALI DIDATTICI" downloadable (pdf).

REFERENCE MANUALS:

Danilo Manera (coord.), Letteratura spagnola contemporanea, Milano, Pearson, 2020

Lina Rodríguez, Manual de historia de la literatura española. 2. Siglos XVIII-XX, Madrid, Castalia, 2009

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Please note that for NON-attendants (or those who have attended courses that have expired) there is an alternative program that can be consulted on the teacher's institutional web page under "useful contents": https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/luigi.contadini/

Teaching methods

Traditional teaching with the use of digital texts, in italian and in spanish.

Assessment methods

Written examination. The examination consists of a written test lasting 90 minutes. The written test consists of 5 open questions concerning: topic of cultural or philosophical history; topic of literary history; topic of description of a literary text; topic of description of a specific aspect within a literary text; comment to a fragment of a literary text. It will be verified the linguistic understanding of literary texts provided in the course. It will be tested the descriptive knowledge of the topics covered during the course, the ability to contextualize the cultural and literary phenomena and to identify the originality of the texts studied. It will also be evaluated the ability of critical synthesis of bibliography, as well as expressive properties, in terms of accuracy and appropriateness of language. Overall knowledge of the cultural-historical period and specifically literary, and ease of use of the reference texts to support this vision, will be evaluated as excellent, while a general knowledge without support interpretation will be considered by an affirmative vote but not high. Finally, the proven and repeated difficulty in creating descriptive and logical connections between cultural phenomena and literary texts make insufficient evaluation.

Teaching tools

Multi-media computer and projector. Dossiers will be included on the website.

Office hours

See the website of Luigi Contadini