49833 - History of the Publishing Industry (1)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to give students the opportunity to orient themselves in historical, political and social events that have contributed to the development of Italian and European publishing from the eighteenth century to today. The chronological scope is limited to this period because it is in this time that the most important changes for Italian and European publishing occur. In partucular, the particular conditions of Italian history and the implications that unification will bring about the circulation of books are emphasized. The great importance is given to regional differences in the eighteenth century and to the birth in the early twentieth century of a new publisher. The course also mentions the need to know the implications that the history of reading and the difficult resolution of literacy problems have on publishing history. The student is therefore able to focus on the most important issues of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

 

Course contents

The most siginificant peculiarities of editorial development in Italy and Europe will be addressed.Starting from the regional editors, they will addres the motives of diversity: from the expansion of Venetian publishing to the first major affirmation of Milanese publishing, to understand the difficulties and problems of Neapolitan publishing. The Italian situation is then compared to the French, English and German languages both from an industrial and cultural point of view. The program then examines the unification turning point and the new publishing dimension of the early twentieth century with the birth and strengthening of large publishing houses. Particular attention is given to the fascist period and to the institutional and associative reorganization. The last part of the course is dedicated to second post-war period, to the stong rise of Milanese publishing and the peculiar presence of the publishing houses and culture. The lessons will always be extended to the history of literacy and the history of culture. It is recommended to follow courses in History of Italian Literature, Modern History and Contemporary History.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students: Storia dell' editoria nell' Italia contemporanea, a cura di Gabriele Turi, Firenze, Giunti (various editions).

(this can be replaced with: Gianfranco Tortorelli, Storia di un tipografo editore. La Galeati dal 1824 al secondo dopoguerra, Bologna, Pàtron, 2015)

Gianfranco Tortorelli: Il torchio e le torri. Editoria e cultura a Bologna dall' Unità al secondo dopoguerra, Bologna, Pàtron (various editions).

No attending students:

Gianfranco Tortorelli, Il torchio e le torri. Editoria e cultura a Bologna dall'Unità al secondo dopoguerra, Bologna, Pendragon (varie ed.)

Gianfranco Tortorelli, Storia di un tipografo editore. La Galeati dal 1824 al secondo Dopoguerra, Bologna, Pendragon, 2015.

Gianfranco Pedullà, Gli anni del fascismo: imprenditoria privata e intervento statale, in Storia dell’ editoria nell’ Italia contemporanea, a cura di Gabriele Turi, Firenze, Giunti (varie edizioni), pp. 341-382.

Teaching methods

The prevailing teaching method consists of the frontal lesson, but for some topics there will be integrations with the comparison with more complex realities such as economics. In this case, statistics and computer programs will be used.

Assessment methods

The final exam will be an oral one, with questions aimed to verify the student's knowledge of the themes discussing during frontal lectures (only for attending students) as well as those treated in the program's texts.

Non-attending students will have to take an oral final exam about the themes treated in the program's texts.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.
Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.
A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

 

Teaching tools

Bibliographic sources and suggestions will be provided depending on the ttheme of the lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Gianfranco Tortorelli