B1756 - Travel Literature (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course aims to explore Italian travel literature from the Middle Ages to the contemporary, with particular reference to the genres of exploration and emigration, philosophical or “sentimental” travel, through the analysis of archival documents, logbooks, letters, fictitious travel accounts, poetic/theatrical/historico-geographic works, reports, novels, ethnographic treatises, etc. In this sense, the course is at the intersection of several fields of investigation (literary, historico-geographic, ethno-anthropological, interculturalism), aiming to provide the tools useful for a conscious evaluation of the original and traditional aspects of travel literature.

Course contents

Women on the road

Readings/Bibliography

Forthcoming

Teaching methods

Lessons, seminars and conferences given by external scholars.

Assessment methods

The exam consists of an oral test. The knowledge of the individual topics covered during the course, the ability to contextualize the cultural and literary phenomena and to identify the elements of originality of the texts studied, the ability to personal and critical re-elaboration of the reference bibliography and the language properties will be evaluated with top marks. A manual competence without any interpretative support will be considered to be positive but will not be given a high grade. Training gaps, superficial analyses, inappropriate and confused language will make the evaluation insufficient.

Teaching tools

Multimedia resources.

Office hours

See the website of Patrizia Caraffi