02609 - Italian Contemporary Literature

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has deepened his/her knowledge of Italian lit-erature between the nineteenth and twenty-first century, and is able to identify and analyze the main connections between historical events and literary and cul-tural movements in contemporary Italy. He/she has acquired the methodological and terminological knowledge necessary to analyse literary texts, and he/she is able to interpret them at both formal and thematic levels.

Course contents

The course will consist of two teaching modules of 30 hours each, both dedicated to historical novels of the Italian second half of the 20th century that have reinterpreted the history of the past in the light of the events of the present.

The first two weeks will be devoted to the presentation of the authors in the programme and the lines of development of the Italian historical novel of the second half of the twentieth century. In the following weeks, an analysis of the texts will be carried out, focusing on the forms of fictional narratives that reread, rewrite and reinterpret the events linked to history.

Readings/Bibliography

First teaching module

Umberto Eco, Il nome della rosa, Bompiani, 2020.

Sebastiano Vassalli, La chimera, Rizzoli 2014.

Second teaching module

Leonardo Sciascia, Il consiglio d’Egitto (1963), Milano, Adelphi, 2009.

Leonardo Sciascia, La scomparsa di Majorana (1975), Milano, Adelphi, 2004.

Students will study the following critical tests:

Bruno Pischedda, Eco: guida a Il nome della rosa, Carocci, 2016.

Giuliana Benvenuti, Microfisica della memoria. Leonardo Sciascia e le forme del racconto, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2014, pages 23-108.

The syllabus remains unchanged for non-attending students. Additional exam preparation materials will be made available on the Virtual platform that are also useful for those who did not attend class.

Teaching methods

The lessons are, most of all, lectures held by the teacher. During the lessons, students will be encouraged to participate. We will use also some tools to support teaching, especially power-point. Movies and documentaries will be shown for the contextualization of readings scheduled. Finally, scholars will be invited for some specific issues and for the presentation of some texts and authors.

Assessment methods

The oral test consists in an oral interview which has the aim of evaluating the critical and methodological ability of the students. The students will be invited to discuss the tests on the course programme. The student must demonstrate an appropriate knowledge of the bibliography in the course programme.

Those students who are able to demonstrate a wide and systematic understanding of the issues covered during the lessons, are able to use these critically and who master the field-specific language of the discipline will be given a mark of excellence.

Those students who demonstrate 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 given a ‘fair' mark.

A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a pass mark or just above a pass mark.

Teaching tools

In addition to face-to-face lectures, given by the course chair, audiovisual tools will be used to support teaching. Scholars who can bring a significant contribution to the in-depth study of the topics on which the course focuses will also be invited.

Office hours

See the website of Giuliana Benvenuti

See the website of Riccardo Stracuzzi