30656 - Hungarian Literature 2 (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

The student reaches the basic skills concerning pre-modern and ancient phases of at least three Finno-Ugric languages about their written, literary and non literary, tradition.  Particular attention will be focused on traditions previous to and not expressed by written culture, on the heritage of customs and popular beliefs, on myths and fairy tales handed down orally.

In particular:

we propose to provide information on the most ancient phases of Baltic-Finnish, Finno-Volgaic, Finno-Permian and Ugric cultures and their successive historical developments.

The aim of the course is to give students the tools for an understanding of the special aspects of Hungarian and Finnish written and oral literature from a comparative viewpoint with regard to the literature of the other Finno-Ugrians.

Course contents

Ugric, Baltic-Finnic, Finno-Volgaic and Finno-Permian cultures. Hungarian and Finnish literature from a comparative point of view

We will study the Ugrians, the Baltic-Finns, the Volga Finns and Finno-Permians: we will examine their languages from a comparative viewpoint with regard to neighbouring languages and we will underline those aspects which mainly characterize their cultures.

We will clarify the peculiarities of the world vision of the ancient Ugrians, Lapps, Baltic-Finns, Volga Finns and Finno-Permians, as reflected in their written and oral literature. We will analyse, in particular, the survival of shamanic myths and symbols in Hungarian, Finnish, Lappish, Estonian and Mordvinian literature.

We will analyse passages, in the original language, of certain important works by Hungarian and Finnish authors.

In addition, we will consider the works of some of the leading exponents of Hungarian Jewish literature. 

Readings/Bibliography

Corradi Musi, Carla, Lingue e popoli ugrici, Parma, Palatina, 1980.

Corradi Musi, Carla, I Finni del Volga, Parma, Studium Parmense, 1981.

Corradi Musi, Carla, I Finno-Permiani, Parma, Studium Parmense, 1982.

Corradi Musi, Carla, I Finni, Parma, Palatina, 1983.

Corradi Musi, Carla, I Lapponi, Parma, Palatina, 1985.

Corradi Musi, Carla, I Baltofinni del Sud-Est, Parma, Palatina, 1990.

Ruspanti, Roberto (ed.), Storia, letterature, cultura dei popoli del Regno d'Ungheria all'epoca della Monarchia austro-ungarica (1867-1918), Alessandria, Edizioni dell'Orso, 2013.

The reading of two of the following texts will be required:

Corradi Musi, Carla (ed.), Lo sciamano e il suo 'doppio', Bologna, Carattere, 2007.

Corradi Musi, Carla (ed.), Simboli e miti della tradizione sciamanica, Bologna, Carattere, 2007.

Corradi Musi, Carla (ed.), Sciamanesimo in Eurasia. Dal mito alla tradizione, Roma, Aracne, 2008.

Corradi Musi, Carla (ed.), Sul cammino delle metamorfosi tra gli Urali e il Mediterraneo. Dal mito alle trasformazioni sociali, Bologna, Edizioni CINE//SINE, 2013.

Corradi Musi, Carla - Ferrari, Giorgia - Martin, Sanna Maria, Sciamanesimo e Settentrione, Roma, Aracne, 2014.

Ferrari, Giorgia - Martin, Sanna Maria (eds.), Sciamani, letterati e artisti. Dalla Lapponia al cuore dell'Europa, Roma, Aracne, 2016.

Rozsnyói, Zsuzsanna (ed.), Il dio Eros e l’uomo. Voci di cantori e narratori del mondo ugrofinnico, Roma, Aracne, 2016.

The reading of one of the following texts will be required:

Corradi Musi, Carla, Parma e l'Ungheria, Parma, Artegrafica Silva, 1975.

Corradi Musi, Carla (ed.), Figlio del Sole. Poesie scelte, Parma, Tipo-Lito Tecnografica, 1978.

Cavaglià, Gianpiero, Fuori dal ghetto. Questione ebraica e letteratura nell'Ungheria della svolta del secolo, Roma, Carucci, 1989.

Corradi Musi, Carla, Shamanism from East to West, Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1997.

Further bibliographical help will be supplied during the lessons.

 

Teaching methods

Direct lessons by the teacher.

Assessment methods

Finno-Ugric Philology 1 (Lm)

The assessment of the acquired knowledge about the Finno-Ugric cultures, with particular reference to the written and oral Hungarian and Finnish literature, consists of an oral interview, which may be preceded, depending on the student's request, by written reports with critical analysis. After an initial series of frontal lessons, with regular frequency (approx. three times), the student can choose to produce a written report of approx. 6 pages, accompanied by bibliographical notes, about a theme of the course, agreed with the professor. The report, which must meet the criteria of correctness of expression and adequate reworking of the student, after being corrected by the professor, is presented and discussed on the part of the student during the class, led by the professor. The assessment is based on the interview, which is designed to test the skills of analysis and synthesis of acquired knowledge, overall personal reworking and adequate exposition. The student's ability to learn from the sources and from bibliographic material crucial information for understanding the specificity of the Finno-Ugric cultures both in a diachronic and in a synchronic perspective and in a comparative point of view will be assessed in particular. An excellent mark will be given to the student who shows a broad knowledge of the discipline, a deep critical reworking of the topics, a high level of mastery of expression and the use of appropriate specific language. A discrete mark will be given to the student who shows general mnemonic knowledge of the discipline and sufficiently developed synthetic and analytical skills expressed with a correct but not entirely appropriate language; some learning gaps, non-appropriate language, minimal knowledge of the examination material will lead to a sufficient mark. Serious gaps in knowledge, non-appropriate language and uncertainty in using bibliographic material offered during the course will lead to a negative assessment.

Teaching tools

Audiovisual support will be used.

Office hours

See the website of Carla Corradi