02609 - Contemporary Italian Literature (G-N)

Learning outcomes

The course intends to provide a critical and cultural awareness in contemporary Italian literature and civilization. For this purpose, literary texts are always analyzed as open shapes, focusing on the relationships among their tradition and cultural legacies. We will also read together and discuss a corpus of prose works through many examples of comparative analysis and practice on different methods.

Course contents

The course is worth twelve credits, amounting to 60 hours of lessons. It is divided in two with two different programs (30 hours each one). The first week will be introductory and dedicated to the presentation of authors in the program. In subsequent weeks we will increase knowledge of individual authors developing a comparative reading of texts in the program. The title Days of Future Past means that the main topic will be a history of the science-fiction in Italy, from the early years of the XXth Century and the unique novel of this kind by Emilio Salgari (Le meraviglie del Duemila) until the first decade of XXIst Century, when Gabriele Frasca wrote his unknown masterpiece Dai cancelli d'acciaio, which will be carefully interpreted and commented during the whole second module.

Readings/Bibliography

1st Module (30 hours):

Days of Future Past. Literature and Science-Fiction in the Italian XXth Century (and beyond)

Students will fully read three of the following books:

- Emilio Salgari, Le meraviglie del Duemila (1907)

- Corrado Alvaro, L'uomo è forte (1938)

- Tommaso Landolfi, Cancroregina (1950), Milano, Adelphi

- Primo Levi Storie naturali o Vizio di forma (1966 e 1971), Torino, Einaudi

- Guido Morselli, Dissipatio H. G. (1973), Milano, Adelphi

- Mario Soldati, Lo smeraldo (1974), Milano, Mondadori

- Paolo Volponi, Il pianeta irritabile (1978), Torino, Einaudi

-Antonio Porta, Il re del magazzino (1978) Milano, Mondadori o Genova, San Marco dei Giustiniani

- Stefano Benni, Terra! (1983), Milano, Feltrinelli

- Tommaso Pincio, Lo spazio sfinito, Roma, Minimum Fax, 2010 o Cinacittà, Torino, Einaudi, 2008

2nd Module (30 hours): 

Students will fully read

- Gabriele Frasca, Dai cancelli d'acciaio, Luca Sossella editore, 2011

 

And the following critical essay:
 
a)  Giulia Iannuzzi, Distopie, viaggi spaziali, allucinazioni : fantascienza italiana contemporanea, prefazione di Pierpaolo Antonello, Milano-Udine, Mimesis, 2015

It will also be useful, during the course, the first italian anthology of anglo-american science-fiction: Le meraviglie del possibile, a cura di S. Solmi e C. Fruttero (1959), Torino, Einaudi, 2014.

 

As well as the theoretical texts proposed, students aiming at taking the 12 Credit exam shall have to read the novels recommended (3+1) in first and second modules.

Students aiming at taking the 6 credit exam will have to read, as well as the theoretical texts, three novels recommended in the first module.

 

Students who cannot attend the course, will also read: Gabriele Frasca, L'oscuro scrutare di Ph. K. Dick, Roma, Meltemi, 2007.

Most of the books in this bibliography are available at the  Libreria Ubik – via Irnerio 27, or can also be found in the FICLIT Library, the BDU Library, the BUB Library: please check on National OPAC (www.sbn.it) or on Polo Bolognese OPAC (https://sol.unibo.it).

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 pictures, movies and short documentaries will be shown for the contextualization of readings scheduled. 

 

Tuesday 3.00 - 5.00 p.m. - Sala Berti - via Via Ludovico Berti, 2/7 - Bologna

Thursday 9.00-11.00 a.m. - Sala Berti - via Via Ludovico Berti, 2/7 - Bologna

Friday 11.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m - Sala Berti - via Via Ludovico Berti, 2/7 - Bologna

Lessons begins on:

Thursday 1st February 2018 (II semester)

Assessment methods

The written test consists - only for non-italian students - in a paper (8-10 pages) about one or more arguments of the course. The paper must be previuosly approved by the teacher and must be send with an e-mail atttachment at least 10 days before the oral test.
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

Video projector, PC, overhead projector, eventually slides and notes from the lessons.

Office hours

See the website of Luigi Weber