28923 - Theory of Literature (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the students have a good insight in the specificity of literary language, a depth knowledge about the general concepts of literature, the literary institutions, the relationships between text and context, the dynamics of literary communication, as well as stylistic traditions, genres, modes and forms of representation. They can master the interpretative tools for the analysis of literary texts.

Course contents

«Let language shape the world». Don DeLillo, an anthropology of the present

The course will focus on Don DeLillo’s work, through a monographic analysis of some representative novels that offer a sharp and critical insight in our world and culture. His books, it has been said, offer a precise anthropology of the present and try not only to describe, but also to interpret and understand the reality we live in, through a «particular comprehension of the world that only literature can provide» (Italo Calvino). The main myths and obsessions of our historical condition – “postmodern”, or “hypermodern”, anyway inscribed in late capitalism – are represented in his novels: geopolitical problems post-Cold War, terrorism, consumerism, paranoia, history manipulation, energy crises, nuclear waste, financial power, media and mass culture, TV, advertising, technology, digital revolution, urban riots, ethnic strife etc. To read DeLillo’s novels means also to question the present and the future, to understand what we are and what we would like to become.

Period: Second semester (february-march 2021)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: See teacher website.

Readings/Bibliography

 I. Novels

• Don DeLillo, Rumore bianco (1985), Einaudi
• Don DeLillo, Libra (1988), Einaudi
• Don DeLillo, Mao II (1991), Einaudi
• Don DeLillo, Underworld (1997), Einaudi
• Don DeLillo, Zero K (2016), Einaudi

II.Critical Texts

A. Don DeLillo

Students will choose three texts from the list below:

• Don DeLillo, The Power of History, “The New York Times Book Review”, 5 ottobre 1997 (http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/090797article3.html )
• Don DeLillo, “An Outsider in This Society”. An Interview with Don DeLillo (1988), intervista di Anthony DeCurtis, in Conversations with Don DeLillo, a cura di Thomas DePietro, University Press of Mississippi, pp. 52-74; oppure in Frank Lentricchia (a cura di), Introducing Don DeLillo, Duke University Press, pp. 43-66
• Don DeLillo, The Art of Fiction CXXXV: Don DeLillo (1993), intervista di Adam Begley, in Conversations with Don DeLillo, a cura di Thomas DePietro, University Press of Mississippi, pp. 86-108
• Don DeLillo, “Writing as a Deeper Form of Concentration”: An Interview with Don DeLillo (1999), intervista di Maria Moss, in Conversations with Don DeLillo, a cura di Thomas DePietro, University Press of Mississippi, pp. 155-168
• Federico Bertoni, Don DeLillo, “Underworld”, in Federico Bertoni, Letteratura. Teorie, metodi, strumenti (2018), Carocci, pp. 43-60
• Federico Bertoni, Incanto e disincanto del mondo. Romance e critica della cultura in Don DeLillo, in “Contemporanea. Rivista di studi sulla letteratura e sulla comunicazione”, n. 11, 2013, pp. 119-132
• Peter Boxhall, Introduction. The Possibility of Fiction, in Peter Boxhall, Don DeLillo. The Possibility of Fiction (2006), Routledge, pp. 1-16
• David Cowart, Introduction, in David Cowart, The Physics of Language (2002), The University of Georgia Press, pp. 1-13
• Kathleen Fitzpatrick, The Unmaking of History: Baseball, Cold War, and “Underworld”, in Underwords. Perspectives on Don DeLillo’s “Underworld” (2002), a cura di Joseph Dewey, Steven G. Kellman, Irving Malin, University of Delaware Press, pp. 144-160
• Jeremy Green, Libra, in The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008), a cura di John N. Duvall, Cambridge U.P., pp. 94-107
• Peter Knight, DeLillo, Postmodernism, Postmodernity, in The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008), a cura di John N. Duvall, Cambridge U.P., pp. 27-40
• Philip Nel, DeLillo and Modernism, in The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008), a cura di John N. Duvall, Cambridge U.P., pp. 13-26
• Patrick O’Donnell, Underworld, in The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008), a cura di John N. Duvall, Cambridge U.P., pp. 108-121
• Stacey Olster, White Noise, in The Cambridge Companion to Don DeLillo (2008), a cura di John N. Duvall, Cambridge U.P., pp. 79-93
• Marco Trainini, Don DeLillo (2016), Castelvecchi
• Fabio Vittorini, 1992-1997. La svolta mediagenica, in Fabio Vittorini, Narrativa Usa 1984-2014. Romanzi, film, graphic novel, serie tv, videogame e altro (2015), Pàtron, pp. 75-132

B. Cultural Theory

Students will chose one text from the list below:

• Jean Baudrillard, una selezione di sette saggi: La logica sociale del consumo, in La società dei consumi (1970); L’ordine dei simulacri, in Lo scambio simbolico e la morte (1976); La precessione dei simulacri (1978); La storia: uno scenario rétro (1978); Lo sciopero degli eventi, in L’illusione della fine, o lo sciopero degli eventi (1992); La scrittura automatica del mondo, in Il delitto perfetto. La televisione ha ucciso la realtà? (1995); Violenza dell’immagine. Violenza contro l’immagine (2005). I testi verranno messi a disposizione tra i materiali didattici
• Zygmunt Bauman, Consumo, dunque sono (2007), Laterza
• Remo Ceserani, Raccontare il postmoderno (1997), Bollati Boringhieri
• Mark Fisher, Realismo capitalista (2009), Nero
• Daniele Giglioli, All'ordine del giorno è il terrore. I cattivi pensieri della democrazia (2007&2018), il Saggiatore
• Fredric Jameson, La logica culturale del tardo capitalismo, Teorie del postmoderno, Il postmodernismo e il mercato, capitoli contenuti in Fredric Jameson, Postmodernismo, ovvero La logica culturale del tardo capitalismo (1989), Fazi, pp. 19-81 e 264-281 (è consigliata anche la lettura della Postfazione di Daniele Giglioli)
• Gilles Lipovetsky, Les temps hypermodernes (2004), Grasset
• Slavoj Žižek, Benvenuti nel deserto del reale. Cinque saggi sull’11 settembre e date simili (2002), Meltemi

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 (link "Teaching material").

Links to further information

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

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni