30133 - Theory of Literature (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

"And let me have fun!". The game of literature

Period: Second semester (february-march 2018)

Timetable of lessons, classrooms etc: See School of Foreign Languages, Literature and Translation website

 

Readings/Bibliography

I.Novels

• Vladimir Nabokov, Fuoco pallido (1962), Adelphi
• Raymond Queneau, Icaro involato (1968), Einaudi
• John Fowles, La donna del tenente francese (1969), Einaudi
• Georges Perec, La vita istruzioni per l’uso (1978), Rizzoli
• Italo Calvino, Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore (1979), Einaudi

II.Critical texts

Federico Bertoni, La letteratura.Teorie, metodi, strumenti, Carocci (the book will be available in January-February 2018)

The students will choose one text from cluster A and two texts from cluster B:

Cluster A:

• Robert Alter, Partial Magic. The Novel as a Self-Conscious Genre, University of California Press
• Roland Barthes, Il piacere del testo, Einaudi
• Lucien Dällenbach, Il racconto speculare. Saggio sulla “mise en abyme”, Pratiche
• Umberto Eco, Sei passeggiate nei boschi narrativi, Bompiani
• Mario Lavagetto, La cicatrice di Montaigne. Sulla bugia in letteratura, Einaudi
• Michel Picard, La lecture comme jeu, Minuit
• Kendall W. Walton, Mimesi come far finta. Sui fondamenti delle arti rappresentazionali, Mimesis
• Patricia Waugh, Metafiction. The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction, Routledge

Cluster B:

• Jorge Luis Borges, Magie parziali del Chisciotte, in Jorge Luis Borges, Altre inquisizioni, Feltrinelli, pp. 49-52.
• Italo Calvino, Cibernetica e fantasmi (Appunti sulla narrativa come processo combinatorio), in Italo Calvino, Una pietra sopra. Discorsi di letteratura e società, Mondadori, pp. 199-219 (oppure in Saggi, “Meridiani” Mondadori, vol. I, pp. 205-225)
• Giorgio Manganelli, La letteratura come menzogna, in Giorgio Manganelli, La letteratura come menzogna, Adelphi, pp. 215-23
• Vladimir Nabokov, Interviews 1 and 2, in Vladimir Nabokov, Intransigenze, Adelphi, pp. 19-24 e 25-36.
• Georges Perec, La maison des romans and La vie: règle du jeu, in Georges Perec, Entretiens et conférences, Joseph K., vol. I, pp. 236-244 e 267-285
• Raymond Queneau, sezione intitolata Letteratura potenziale, in Raymond Queneau, Segni, cifre e lettere, Einaudi, pp. 45-76
• Robert Louis Stevenson, A proposito del “romance”, in R.L. Stevenson, L’isola del romanzo, a cura di G. Almansi, Sellerio, pp. 25-40; or, Una chiacchierata sul romanzesco, in Romanzi racconti e saggi, ed. A. Brilli, «Meridiani» Mondadori, pp. 1849-66
• Oscar Wilde, La decadenza della menzogna, Archinto

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" on the right side of this page).

Links to further information

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

Office hours

See the website of Federico Bertoni