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 reality, including investigations into forms of communication and gender issues. Texts by Leandro Fernández de Moratín, Benito Pérez Galdós, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Miguel de Unamuno, Federico García Lorca, Carmen Martín Gaite, Juan José Millás will be analysed, using historical, philosophical and literary theory tools. Themes include: Enlightenment, neoclassicism, positivism, realism, existentialism, avant-garde, Francoism, neorealism, postmodernism.

Readings/Bibliography

MAIN TEXTS:

Leandro Fernández de Moratín, La commedia nuova, edited by Luigi Contadini (with facing text), Rome, Castelvecchi, 2020

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

Emilia Pardo Bazán, Il pizzo strappato. Racconti sulla violenza contro le donne, edited by Valentina Nider (with facing text), Venice, Marsilio, 2021

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

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

Juan José Millás, La soledad era esto, 1990

The texts must be read in the original language and in their complete version, even if in other editions.

ON-LINE MATERIALS
The materials published online during the course are obligatory

REFERENCE MANUALS:
Danilo Manera (coord.), Contemporary Spanish Literature, Milan, Pearson, 2020
Lina Rodríguez, Manual de historia de la literatura española. Siglos XVIII-XX, Madrid, Castalia, 2009
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Please note that for those who are NOT attending (or for those who have attended courses that have now expired) there is an alternative programme that can be consulted on the teacher's institutional web page under the heading "useful content": 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