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

ON THE ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE OF LITERATURE FOR LIFE

The main topic of the course is the complex relationship between fiction and experience. In particular, we will focus on a thematic issue: the way in which some novels have described one of the major experiences of human life, the passion of love.

Period: Second semester (february-march 2014)

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

 

Readings/Bibliography

I. Texts

·      Gustave Flaubert, L'educazione sentimentale (1869), Einaudi

·      Giovanni Verga, Tigre reale (1875): the text can be read in G. Verga, Tutti i romanzi, le novelle e il teatro, Newton Compton, or in the national edition of the works by Giovanni Verga, 2 voll., ed. M. Spampinato Beretta, Le Monnier

·      Gabriele D'Annunzio, Il piacere (1889), Mondadori

·      Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955), Adelphi (to read the novel in english you can refer to The Annotated Lolita, ed. Alfred Appel Jr., McGraw-Hill)

·      John Fowles, La donna del tenente francese (1969), Mondadori

II. Critical Texts

The students will choose three texts from the following list:

·      Roland Barthes, Frammenti di un discorso amoroso, Einaudi

·      Federico Bertoni, Sull'utilità e il danno della letteratura per la vita, in «Between», vol. III, n. 5, 2013 (http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/954)

·      Stefano Calabrese, «Wertherfieber», bovarismo e altre patologie della lettura romanzesca, in Franco Moretti (ed.), Il romanzo, vol. I: La cultura del romanzo, Einaudi, pp. 567-598

·      Sigmund Freud, Introduzione al narcisismo, in La teoria psicanalitica, Bollati Boringhieri

·      Jules De Gaultier, Il bovarismo, SE

·      René Girard, Menzogna romantica e verità romanzesca, Bompiani

·      Jean Rousset, Leurs yeux se rencontrèrent. La scène de première vue dans le roman, Corti

·      Stendhal, Dell'amore (First Book), Garzanti

·      Victor Stoichita, L'effetto Pigmalione. Breve storia dei simulacri da Ovidio a Hitchcock, Il Saggiatore

·      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