08846 - Comparative Literatures

Learning outcomes

Course contents

TOPIC

Problems of Ending and Closure in the Modern Novel

Ending and closure have long been major concerns in narrative theory and comparative literature, variously linked to issues of genre(s), tradition(s), cultural context(s), literary status, ideology, and psycho-social attitudes on the part of both readers and writers, and they are even more relevant today, within a mediascape which is increasingly characterised by “endless narratives” (TV series going through several seasons, film and literature multiplicity, continuations, spin-offs and the like). Must a narrative end somewhere? Where? And why?

Against this background, the seminar will tackle notions of ending and closure from both a theoretical and a historical perspective, focusing on nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first-century narratives. In doing so, it will stress the differences between the two notions (ending and closure are not one and the same thing), challenge some ideas on “closed” and “open” texts which are taken for granted, and prompt reflection on narrative temporality. Particular attention will be paid to some closural strategies, such as the epilogue or the happy ending and their many aporias, with special reference to nineteenth-century fiction, some literary practices that work “against” the end, such as the sequel, or some fictional/cultural tropes connected to “the sense of an ending”.

Timing of the course: second semester (February-May 2018)

Readings/Bibliography

1. Literary texts

► Jane Austen, Lady Susan

► Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

► Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

► Henry James,The Portrait of a Lady

► John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman

2. Films

► The Godfather I, dir. Francis Ford Coppola

► The Godfather II, dir. Francis Ford Coppola

2. Testi critici

► Peter Brooks, the first chapter of Peter Brook's Reading for the Plot

► Donata Meneghelli, “Nella mia fine è il mio principio: il sequel”, in Senza fine. Sequel, prequel, altre continuazioni, Morellini, pp. 17-56.

► Edgar Allan Poe, “The Philosophy of Composition (retrievable online at: https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/poe/edgar_allan/philosophy-of-composition)

► Edward Morgan Forster, “Story", in Aspects of the Novel

Students who do not attend classes will also read: Bruno Traversetti, Explicit. L'immaginario romanzesco e le forme del finale, Pellegrini

Teaching methods

Assessment methods

Evaluation methods

The abilities acquired during the course will be evaluated through an oral test aimed at ascertaining a deep knowledge of all the topics covered during the course. The oral test consists in an interview aimed at evaluating the students' critical and methodological skills. Students will be invited to discuss the texts in the reading list and comment on them. Therefore students must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the recommended reading list.

Students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the course, to tackle them critically, and who master the critical jargon of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence. Students who demonstrate a mere mnemonic knowledge of the subject together with a more superficial analytical ability to synthesize, a correct command of the critical jargon but not always appropriate, will be given a ‘fair' mark. A superficial knowledge and understanding of the course topics, a scarce analytical and expressive ability will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark. Students who demonstrate gaps in their knowledge of the main topics, inappropriate language skills, lack of familiarity with the syllabus reading list will not be given a pass mark.

Office hours

See the website of Donata Meneghelli