30129 - History of Literary Criticism (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the students have a good knowledge about modern critical movements and figures, with a special focus on methodologies developed in the twentieth century - especially in the field of the theory of literature - and their influence on text analysis. They can also master critical problems and interpretative models about literary history.

Course contents

READING, CRITICISM, INTERPRETATION

Literary discourse is marked by some distinctive features: ambiguity, semantic density, connotative multiplicity, resistance to univocal and dogmatic readings. Dealing with textual alterity is thus the challenge of literary criticism, whose proper task is to generate questions, to multiply the meanings, to inscribe the works of the past in new theoretical and hermeneutical horizons. The course will focus on a selected corpus of exemplary texts of the European literature particularly suitable for generating puzzles, theoretical debates or conflicts of interpretations. At the same time, it will be an opportunity to retrace some key moments in the history of twentieth-century literary criticism, taken in its many articulations (structuralism, psychoanalytic criticism, stylistic criticism, reader-response criticism, thematic criticism, postcolonial studies, etc.).

Period: Second semester (april-may 2020)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: See teacher website

Readings/Bibliography

I. Texts

• Honoré de Balzac, Sarrasine (1830), Feltrinelli (oppure in appendice a Roland Barthes, S/Z, Einaudi)
• Edgar Allan Poe, La lettera rubata (1844), in Racconti, Garzanti, pp. 92-113
• Hermann Melville, Bartleby lo scrivano (1853), edizione consigliata Feltrinelli, a cura di Gianni Celati
• Robert Louis Stevenson, Lo strano caso del dottor Jekyll e del signor Hyde (1886), Einaudi
• Henry James, Il giro di vite (1898), edizione consigliata Marsilio, con testo a fronte, a cura di Giovanna Mochi
• Joseph Conrad, Cuore di tenebra (1899), Feltrinelli
• Franz Kafka, La metamorfosi (1915), Garzanti
  

II. Critical Texts

This section is divided in two parts: A) A list of reference books about the history of literary criticism; B) A list of brief essays about the literary texts. The students will choose one text from list A and two texts from list B.

A) Reference Books:

• Stefano Brugnolo, Davide Colussi, Sergio Zatti, Emanuele Zinato, La scrittura e il mondo. Teorie letterarie del Novecento, Carocci
• Alberto Casadei, La critica letteraria contemporanea, il Mulino
• Francesco Muzzioli, Le teorie della critica letteraria, Carocci

B) Essays (texts not currently available will be uploaded on the course website):

About Sarrasine:

• Roland Barthes, S/Z. Una lettura di “Sarrasine”, Einaudi

About The Purloined Letter:

• Jacques Derrida, Il fattore della verità, Adelphi
• Norman N. Holland, Re-Covering “The Purloined Letter”: Reading as a Personal Transaction, in Susan R. Suleiman, Inge Crosman (ed.), The Reader in the Text. Essays on Audience and Interpretation, Princeton University Press, pp. 350-370
• Jacques Lacan, Il seminario su “La lettera rubata”, in Jacques Lacan, Scritti, Einaudi, vol. I, pp. 7-58

About Bartleby:

• Giorgio Agamben, Bartleby o della contingenza, in Gilles Deleuze, Giorgio Agamben, Bartleby. La formula della creazione, Quodlibet, pp. 45-89
• Gilles Deleuze, Bartleby o la formula, in Gilles Deleuze, Giorgio Agamben, Bartleby. La formula della creazione, Quodlibet, pp. 7-44

About The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

• Elaine Showalter, Dr. Jekyll’s Closet, in Elaine Showalter, Sexual Anarchy. Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle, Viking, pp. 105-126
• Guido Fink, Robert Louis Stevenson. Lo strano caso del dottor Jekyll e del signor Hyde, Lindau
• Vladimir Nabokov, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Il Dottor Jekyll e Mister Hyde”, in Vladimir Nabokov, Lezioni di letteratura, Adelphi

About The Turn of the Screw:

• Maurice Blanchot, Il giro di vite, in Maurice Blanchot, Il libro a venire, Einaudi, pp. 132-139
• Giovanna Mochi, Le “cose cattive” di Henry James, in Henry James, Il giro di vite, Marsilio, pp. 9-42
• Edmund Wilson, L’ambiguità di Henry James, in Edmund Wilson, Il pensiero multiplo, Garzanti, pp. 101-146

About Heart of Darkness:

• Peter Brooks, Un rapporto illeggibile. "Heart of Darkness", in Peter Brooks, Trame. Intenzionalità e progetto nel discorso narrativo, Einaudi, pp. 249-274
• Edward Said, Two Visions in “Heart of Darkness”, in Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, Vintage Books, pp. 19-31
• Tzvetan Todorov, Conoscenza del vuoto. Cuore di tenebra, in Tzvetan Todorov, Poetica della prosa, Bompiani, pp. 171-86

About La metamorfosi:

• Giuliano Baioni, La metamorfosi, in Giuliano Baioni, Kafka. Romanzo e parabola, Feltrinelli, pp. 81-100
• Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Un Edipo troppo grande, in Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Kafka. Per una letteratura minore, Quodlibet, pp. 17-27
• Tzvetan Todorov, Letteratura e fantastico, in Tzvetan Todorov, La letteratura fantastica, Garzanti, pp. 161-179

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral test that will assess the knowledge of the texts and the student's critical and interpretative skills. It will also assess the student's methodological awareness, the ability to master the bibliography in the course programme and the the field-specific language of the discipline. The ability to establish links between the theoretical framework and the texts will be expecially appreciated. A wide and systematic knowledge of the texts, interpretative insight, critical understanding and rhetorical effectiveness will be evaluated with a mark of excellence, while 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 evaluated with a “fair” mark. A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability will be evaluated with a pass mark or a negative mark.

Teaching tools

Projection of Power point slides. For further teaching material see the website.

Links to further information

http://www.unibo.it/SitoWebDocente/default.htm?UPN=federico.bertoni@unibo.it

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni